


All I Ever Needed is Twice Removed

by Mizzy



Category: Iron Man (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers Mountain, Avengers Vol. 8 (2018), Complete, Doppelganger, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Not A Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-23 11:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 44,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19700248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizzy/pseuds/Mizzy
Summary: Tony Stark believes he is just a soulless copy of himself.What if he's right?[COMPLETE!]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Set nominally after _War of the Realms_ and _Tony Stark: Iron Man #13_ and will probably fully diverge from there, unless newer issues are accommodating. This fic is 90% written, so updates will be fairly regular. :)
> 
> THIS FIC IS NOW COMPLETE!
> 
> Update: _Avengers (2018) #21_ actually accommodated this fic, so it still hasn't been 100% harpooned by canon (it's only a matter of time, but until we are, here's a cute panel-grab from Avengers #21 for your amusement!)  
> 
> 
> Update 2: It’s completely impossible now lmao. Diverts from TS:IM13. Heavily wrapped in recent canon (this fic madly assumes you’re up to date on Cap, Avengers and Tony up until June this year, and read secret empire; it then projects on from some of that. Idk.)

Steve waits in the kitchen for Tony, because he wants to make sure Tony has coffee before landing him with something like this.

He starts to decant the drink as soon as he hears the familiar footsteps at the far end of the hallway, pouring it from one cup to another to cool it to the right temperature because Tony's pickier with his coffee than he'd like most people to know. Steve can tell the noise of Tony's walking anywhere, Tony's Italian shoes clinking in a neat rhythm on the metal walkways. Steve resists the urge to stick his head out of the doorway in order to catch an earlier glimpse of him, because he shouldn't need the reassurance that Tony is alive and well.

Steve's still in a weird suspended state of disbelief because even though he knows they've had enough messages from Tony to say he's okay, it's hard to believe it. The doppelganger currently sitting in their cells makes it hard to believe. Steve won't believe the doppelganger is a copy until he sees the real Tony.

Steve lets out a sigh of relief when he sees Tony peer in through the doorway, a smile making his mustache twitch in a familiar way. Tony's smile widens when Steve hands over the coffee mug, and their fingers graze while he passes it over. Steve appreciates that slight touch, anchoring him back to this reality. Tony's here and Tony's okay. That's all Steve needs to know to feel calm again.

"So tell me, what's the situation that's so urgent I can't be given details over the comms?" Tony says and Steve's nerves finish settling at the sound of Tony's voice. Of course Tony is fine. "You gonna give me a little more info to work on, like _why_ I was assaulted with a bio-scanner the moment I landed in the hangar?"

"Good afternoon," Steve says.

This Tony is a better sight than the _Not Tony_ currently sitting down in one of the intestinal jail cells. Tony smiles brightly on seeing Steve, even if his eyes narrow at Steve's lack of an answer. His skin has a pleasant, healthy glow. He's well-groomed and walks with a bounce that can't hide that he's in peak physical condition. All the worry and stress tearing into Steve's chest and abdomen softens at the sight.

"Good afternoon and thank you for the coffee," Tony echoes, his smile lingering as he leans against the table. "Have I satisfied your old-timer conversational sensibilities enough, or do I need to inquire after your health too?"

Steve grins briefly, an automatic reaction to seeing Tony alive and well, but he flattens his mouth out into something more serious, which Tony mirrors automatically. Tony's always been good at picking up his moods. Tony's realized that whatever is going on is important, because he's remaining silent, letting Steve speak. "When we were helping with the rescue efforts in Manhattan, we found something in one of the damaged skyscrapers. Or rather, we found _someone_. He was—he was sitting in one of those security cubes, like T'Challa had at the Necropolis."

Tony's face darkens at the memory and for a second one of his fists clench, an old muscle memory. His eyes lock on Steve's with urgency. "Who was it?"

Steve falters, because even for them, this is weird. "Honestly, maybe you'd better see for yourself," he says, slowly, and hands Tony the tablet with the security feed to Not Tony's jail cell.

Tony puts down his coffee and stares at the feed, at the shaggy-haired version of himself currently sitting on a bench in one of the jail cells in the intestinal tract. He looks up at Steve, his entire face a question. "What the fuck?"

"Phrasing aside, that was pretty much my reaction," Steve says.

Tony's eyes drift back to the tablet. "Maybe you'd better tell me how this happened."

Steve nods.

* * *

Okoye has been liaising with the Daughters of Liberty to build up some sort of whisper network, so when local emergency services find a situation they're not fully equipped for, and the Squadron Supreme are elsewhere, an opportunity is quietly arranged for the local cops to look the other way so the Avengers can slip in and help. After the War of the Realms, there's been a lot of situations like that. No one likes to talk about how much clean-up is needed after a war.

It happened in a sub-basement level of a building that Steve nearly didn't clear fully.

It was almost a fluke that he even found the door. If the wall of the building he was searching hadn't been smashed apart so badly by one of Malekith's frost giants, he might never have seen it. The door led down to another floor and a sight he'd seen before, one he hoped he never would again. It was a cage, just like the one in T'Challa's Necropolis. A cube of see-through material stronger than glass. Unbreakable from the inside. And there was a figure lying inside the glass cube, curled in a fetal position.

The figure inside the cage had their arms defensively wrapped around their knees, long dark hair obscuring their face. The person's feet were bare and their clothes were torn and disheveled. For a moment Steve wondered if they were dead, but the figure twitched and made a low groaning noise.

Steve edged closer, frowning. "Hello?"

The figure stilled, and then gasped, in a rattling voice that sounded like wind through bones. "Steve?"

Steve tensed as the figure struggled to push themselves up, far enough that they could lift up their face. And then Steve felt like he was going absolutely insane, because that face, it _c_ _ould_ _n't_ be—

It couldn't be Tony Stark.

And yet it _was_ Tony, looking up at him with burgeoning awareness. Tony, looking at him like he couldn't believe this is happening. His hair was long and bedraggled, his beard bushy and unkempt, but Steve would know those blue eyes anywhere.

At least, he'd believed until that moment that he would. Now he realized he wouldn't know, because those distinctive eyes were in a face that looked like Tony's, but it couldn't be Tony. He'd seen Tony just two hours ago, in Avengers Mountain, looking hale and hearty. Nothing like this emaciated, shadow-drenched Tony, looking up at Steve like he's water in a desert.

" _Steve_ ," the Tony look-a-like breathed, his voice husky and cracking, just on the single syllable. "You came. I didn't—I was starting to give up hope." It couldn't be Tony, but it was Tony's blue eyes tearing up in wonder, like Steve's face was some beautiful sight Tony never expected to see again.

This fake Tony, this _N_ _ot_ Tony, tried to push himself up more, but fails. He was thin, emaciated, like he'd been stuck in this cage for _months_. There was a bucket in the corner, and food that looked relatively fresh, so whomever Not Tony was, _someone_ must have been keeping him alive.

The wonder on Not Tony's face started to fade, the longer Steve stared at him without saying anything.

* * *

"So you brought him here?" Tony asks, as Steve punches the right button to take them down to the prison level.

Steve nods as the doors close and the Spine Lift starts its descent. "Okoye called to give me an update. I tried to tell her I had a situation, but she said my situation and I had ten minutes before the whole structure came down on my head. So I took my shield, smashed open the cage, and brought him back here." He frowns. "I hope I haven't made a mistake. If it's not something...odd—"

"Cloning, Skrull, dimension travel—" Tony starts listing.

"—then more likely than not it's some sort of a trap," Steve finishes. "Genetically, he seems to be _identical_ to you. I mean. Older, maybe, and scrawnier, that's all we could tell."

Tony hums under his breath, eyes locked on the screen in his hands. Not Tony is slumped against the wall, staring at the corner listlessly. Tony hesitates before his guess, but then forges ahead with it anyway. "Could it be a future me, then?"

Steve inhales and exhales slowly, louder than he'd like. Too much time travel once ripped the multiverse apart; even the barest idea of it is enough to give them both nightmares. "Perhaps. Strange says there are no remnants of any stray quantum energies, so time travel is unlikely. And this… this copy, he definitely thinks he's you."

"It probably is a trap of some sort," Tony says, eyes still fixed on the screen. He looks unnerved. Steve doesn't blame him. Steve's had the same experience much more recently than he'd liked. At least Steve knew who— _what—_ he was looking at when he saw his own face in a jail cell: pure evil. This other Tony, this Not Tony, is an unknown variable. "This is so weird. He's definitely not a Skrull?"

Steve huffs a sound that might have been a laugh, once upon a time. "Absolutely not a Skrull."

"That's something, I suppose," Tony says, distractedly, before he claps his hands together cheerfully. "It's been a while since I've gotten to see a double of myself. I suppose if it had to be any of us, it's not a hardship on the eyes to have two of me around." He winks at Steve and finally turns the tablet off, handing it back to Steve as they exit the Spine Lift.

T'Challa, Carol, Robbie, and Strange are waiting for them down in the main prison hub. Steve can see Thor and Jennifer at the far end of the hallway, keeping watch over Not Tony.

"Oh, you know, that is pretty weird," Robbie enthuses, looking between the large monitor showing Not Tony sitting in his cell, and their Tony, standing next to Steve with a slowly sobering expression.

"It's nice this sort of situation is new to him," Carol mutters to T'Challa, whose mask ripples like he's smirking beneath it.

"Extremely nice," Steve says, heavily, thinking about his evil double again, who is still loose out there somewhere, causing who knows what kind of havoc.

"So what's the tea with fake Tony?" Tony asks, nodding up at his double.

"I've scanned him with all the tech here and all the spells I can come up with," Strange says, keeping his voice low. "He thinks he's Tony Stark, and honestly, nothing I've thrown at him says otherwise. There's no quantum resonance, no alien DNA, nothing I can find to explain this." He peers at Tony with an astute expression. "If this is a clone, it's a very good copy. No lurking surprises in his genetic material from what we can tell."

"Do you need me to go through all that as well?" Tony asks, looking serious. "Probably would be good protocol."

"I have a couple of spells I can do right here," Strange says, "but the initial scans Doctor Nemesis sent down after your arrival match up with the scans of you we already have on file from the last eight weeks. Your double doesn't match any of them."

Tony nods and hops onto the nearest table, even though there's a chair right by it. "Magic me up, Doc," he beams, waggling his fingers like he's drawing a spell from Harry Potter in the air.

Strange rolls his eyes.

Steve steps back a little way and shoots a look at T'Challa. "Has he said anything?"

"Nothing much," T'Challa says. He nods in the direction of the cell. "You can try, if you'd like. He's been responding best to Thor and Jennifer, but he might open up more to you."

Steve nods and shoots a small reassuring smile at Tony before turning down the hallway.

* * *

Thor and Jennifer step back as Steve approaches the cell, silently giving him a little space. Steve draws up to the bars, looking in hesitantly.

Not Tony doesn't immediately look up at the sound of his approach, but when he does, he immediately straightens. His blank gaze shifts into something more alert. "Steve," Not Tony says, in that same tone of wonder he had when Steve found him.

Steve has to tense all his muscles at once not to flinch, because that's the instant reaction he wants to make. Not Tony sounds so much like Tony it's hard not to want to immediately want to help him.

"How are you?" Steve asks, his voice cracking a little.

Not Tony looks at Steve speculatively. "I'm hallucinating," Not Tony says. His voice creaks too and he reaches for a bottle of water that's been provided for him. "Guess I gotta hydrate if I'm gonna talk sweetly to my imaginary visitors."

"I'm not imaginary," Steve says.

"Normally I only got visitors once a week," Not Tony says, tapping his fingers on his water bottle. He looks up with a sallow, considering expression. "You're not here to give me food, are you?"

"No," Steve says.

"Shame. If I was a hallucination, I'd be nicer to people. I'd bring them cake." Not Tony laughs to himself, the sound sharp and broken. "Is cake still good or has it somehow been uninvented in my absence?"

"Uh," Steve says, as Not Tony's eyes swing up to him in curiosity. "I haven't had any cake for a while."

"Hmm," Not Tony says, drawing the sound out. "That _is_ what a hallucination of part of my inner psyche would say, I suppose. You could have lied to me. Let me believe there was cake right there." Not Tony sighs. "Well, I guess it's better than my last prison. Where are we, imaginary Steve?"

"Avengers Mountain," Steve says.

"Avengers _Mountain_ , wow," Not Tony says. "A mountain." He looks around. "Not as much rock as I thought I'd imagine for a mountain base."

"It's not actually a mountain."

"Of course it isn't," Not Tony says, smiling. "Steve, this is the weirdest hallucination of you I've ever had. And believe me, I've hallucinated you _plenty_ before." He makes a humming noise and squints at Steve. "So what's a mountain when it's not a mountain?"

It's like one of those absurd riddles. "A dead Celestial," Steve says.

"A dead Cele—" Not Tony's face freezes. "I wouldn't make up something like that." His face slowly thaws and screws up into something awful. "I would never come up with something like that—" He stares up at Steve with an angry expression. "I'm not hallucinating, am I?"

Steve shakes his head and Not Tony's mouth drops lax. There's an expression on his face that seems a lot like betrayal, which makes Steve's stomach hurt, even though Not Tony is the outsider in this scenario.

Not Tony looks absolutely horrified. "This is real and you—" He barks a single, high-pitched laugh. "This is real and none of you looked for me?" Not Tony leans his head back and laughs hysterically, the sharp sound punctuated by harsh breaths that get more rapid and shallower. "I never imagined for a second—I thought you just had trouble finding me—haha, but of course, of course you wouldn't bother—"

"I'm going to need you to calm down," Steve says to Not Tony, staring at him.

"Calm down?" Not Tony hiccups another bitter little laugh and lowers his gaze. His mouth is stretched wide. Not Tony's next words are in a whisper that Steve has to strain to hear. "What the hell did I do, to make you look at me like this?"

Steve blinks, nonplussed. He has no idea what game this impostor is trying to play, what trick he's planning to pull, but it's disconcerting, to have someone that looks like Tony looking at him like this.

"Steve," Not Tony says, in a low, punched tone. "Steve, it's me. I swear, it's me. I don't know why—there's been another one of me around." His eyes are sharp with dawning awareness. "Tell me there's been another one of me around. There's no other way—I refuse to believe you wouldn't look for me otherwise. Because why look for me if you don't even think I'm missing?"

Steve glances back at Jennifer and Thor who shrug. Steve turns back to Not Tony. "You're not Tony Stark. We want to know who you are."

"You think I'm not Tony—You want to know who _I am—_ " Not Tony makes a wheezing noise. "Oh, this is perfect."

"Well, you do look like me," Tony says, and Not Tony lifts his head up sharply to see that Tony has joined Steve. "So I suppose that's as close to perfect as you're going to get."

Not Tony straightens, lifting up his face and looking agitated. Steve thinks Not Tony is whispering _what the fuck_ to himself. It's a good act. Not Tony climbs unsteadily to his feet and stares warily at the real Tony, like he's genuinely surprised to see him.

"Okay," Tony says, drawing out the _oh_. He stops still where he is and stares at Not Tony. "Even though I saw the feed, this is...huh. This is way weirder in person."

Not Tony is pale, but he manages to go even paler as he steps closer to the bars, his eyes locked on Tony's face. He looks haunted, like someone's just told him _up_ is _down._ "This is surreal," Not Tony whispers and then his face rearranges like he's suddenly been shot. "I mean, I was starting to figure out this is why none of you even came looking for me, you didn't know I was gone, but—"

"Whoever copied me has done a good job," Tony says, stepping backward, regarding Not Tony with a skeptical gaze. "A bit beaten up, I suppose. It'll be interesting figuring out why he exists."

"Why I exist—" Not Tony splutters. "I'm not the goddamned copy here, I'm the original—there has to be some way to prove it."

"We know you think you're Tony Stark," Steve says, gently.

"Bullshit, Steve, I _am_ Tony Stark. There has to be some way to prove it." Not Tony glares at Tony in pure horror.

"You're a good copy," Tony says, "but you're a trap."

"And probably lying," Carol mutters, her mouth flattening into a firm line when she catches Not Tony shooting a distrustful glare in her direction.

"Then get a telepath down here, they can scan me, back up what I'm saying," Not Tony says. "Don't tell me that's changed in my absence. Or did someone yell _no more psychics_ while I was stuck in that damn cube?"

"Maybe it's not a bad idea," Steve says, softly. He looks up at T'Challa uncertainly. "At least we can eliminate that he's not lying to us."

"Do we even have to?" T'Challa says.

Steve and Carol turn to look at him, matching expressions of confusion on their faces.

T'Challa tilts his head and makes an amused sound. "I know it was a little uncomfortable before, but we wouldn't need to do it for long." He turns to Tony. "It only requires seven minds, yes?"

Tony's eyes narrow and then his face twitches a little. "The Uni-Mind, you mean," he says, in a low, careful kind of voice.

"Oh, really?" Jennifer's face falls. "That kind of hurt last time."

"It would only need to be a short amount of time," T'Challa says, nodding like he's already decided this is what they'll be doing. "The faster we do it, the quicker we will have an answer. At least to the question of if this double intends us any harm."

Jennifer folds her arms and pouts. "I suppose," she agrees, begrudgingly. Steve glances around. No one else seems too unopposed. Not Tony looks baffled, his gaze flitting between them all like someone will have an answer to his questions just on their faces.

"Tony," T'Challa says.

"Right," Tony says, smiles, and then his smile freezes. He blinks a couple of times and then his eyes widen. "Hang on...I don't…" His smile twitches and then relaxes and he looks at T'Challa with an apologetic expression. "I think I need to be Iron Man to do it," he says. "I can go get the armor now, if you'd like?"

T'Challa nods. "Go. We'll wait for you."

"Great," Tony says, and turns to hurry up the walkway.

"Wait," Not Tony says, "the Uni-Mind? Are you saying he—he can use the Uni-Mind? The _Eternals'_ Uni-Mind?"

Steve glances at Not Tony, frowning heavily because Not Tony looks suddenly serious, like Tony does whenever there's a major problem. "Yeah, so if you have any secrets, we'll know them," Steve says.

Not Tony shakes his head and stares at Steve earnestly like he's trying to start some sort of telepathic link of his own. Steve almost flinches at it, because there's no feeling like this in the world, being the sole directed focus of Tony's attention, and it feels weird that it's Not Tony sparking this feeling in him.

Not Tony's face is ablaze with panic and anger. "There's no reason the armor would need to have anything to do with that, it's a psychic link. You're acting like he's me, and he must be some sort of copy—I don't know. But if he's like me… My armor—the Iron Man armor—it doesn't have anything to do with magic, it never does—For fuck's sake, Steve, you _know_ my feelings about magic!"

Steve frowns, because there's something in there that's making his stomach twinge awkwardly. The hair on the back of his neck prickles awkwardly and Steve's gaze moves to the long hallway, where he can still see Tony's back as he retreats to get his armor.

It's an insidious voice that's suddenly whispering _what if_ in the back of his mind. What if Tony...somehow isn't Tony? Steve wasn't there for the second Civil War, or for when Tony came miraculously back from the dead, but it was a miracle, and didn't miracles always come with a price?

Tony, the real Tony, wouldn't be angry if Steve checked to be sure it was him. Tony would understand Steve's paranoia about being replaced by an exact copy, wouldn't he? They've forgiven each other for far bigger things in the past than a little worry about doppelgangers?

"Tony," Steve calls. Tony slows a little, but doesn't turn around, and Steve's stomach twinges again. This can't be happening. Louder, more urgently, he tries again. "Tony, wait up a second."

Tony stops and this is about when everything Steve thought he knew just shatters. Steve stares at the tense slope of Tony's back, those familiar shoulders hunching, and Steve's hair is rising on the back of his neck. Tony turns his head slowly, just far enough that Steve can see his face, and he looks— He looks _angry._

 _"_ Dammit," Tony mutters and then he reaches a hand backward and something at his wrist sparks—and the hallway goes black.


	2. Chapter 2

Steve's mind goes blank for a painful, terrible second.

"Systems, respond," T'Challa yells, but there's silence, of course, _of course_.

A lot of things happen all at once, because this isn't the Avengers first rodeo. Carol's hands blaze up with light and Robbie's head flames up as they immediately start to give chase with Thor and T'Challa. Steve automatically drops his shield from its harness so he can use it. Jennifer smashes her fist into the nearest wall and hisses in success when she finds a stash of emergency light rods. She activates one immediately and tosses it across to Steve. "One of us should stay and guard the prisoner," she yells, looking longingly down the hallway.

"What's happening?" Not Tony's voice calls out, and Steve stalls, turning to look in Not Tony's direction. Even though the power has gone out, Not Tony is standing still. The bars might still be enough to hold him without the advanced shielding, but Not Tony isn't even attempting to escape. In the soft light of the emergency rod, Not Tony's face looks gaunter, like he's constructed entirely of shadows.

"Steve—Stop him," Not Tony says, his breathing rapid as he stares at Steve entreatingly. "You have to stop him. That's not me. And if he gets out with my tech, who knows what damage he could cause?" There's an honest plea in Not Tony's voice, and oh, god, what if he _is_ Tony? What if he's been Tony all along, and for all these weeks, the Tony that's been walking around, causing havoc, fighting alongside them, has been some sort of impostor? What if—

Steve shuts the part of his brain down that's starting to shriek at him in sheer horror and springs into action. "Jennifer. Stay here. I need someone to watch him."

"Of course," Jennifer says, although she looks a little disappointed.

"Find him," Not Tony says. "Out of anyone, you know how he thinks."

Steve makes a move to leave and then pauses. He looks at Not Tony speculatively. "How would _you_ do it?"

"I don't know the layout, or where we are—"

Steve hesitates, but just for a second. This could be a trap, and he could be about to give information he'll rue later, but there's something tugging in his gut now, something that is telling him to tell Not Tony the truth. He gives in to that urge. "We're in a 2000-foot Celestial corpse, currently in the intestinal tract. Tony's lab is up near where the liver would be. He has a hangar bay in the right hand."

"Multiple armors on-site?" Not Tony asks, and then nods. "He'll be sending out multiple suits in different directions. Chances are—" He frowns. "Where are we?"

"Celestial—"

"Not what, _where._ "

"The Arctic," Steve says.

"Shit," Not Tony breathes. "Well, you'd be able to track most of my armors, I suppose? Uh. If he's like me— Submarine. Something low tech, enough not to be picked up on radar. I'd know you would be able to get the tech back online soon enough, you'd know my favorite alloys, and we're…we're remote enough that I'd need a low-tech escape option." He tilts his chin. "Definitely a submarine. Closed environment. Something Ultron couldn't hack into."

The lights in the hallway come back on, a low pulsing red that means the Mountain's in a state of alert. "What would you make it out of?" Steve asks. "We have extended radar, a central security cortex—"

"Who's your eye in the sky?"

"Broo," Steve says, "he's—"

Not Tony smiles briefly, curtly. "I know Broo. He's definitely your guy for something like this. Uh. Mutant guy." He takes a breath that makes a horrible rattling sound. "Tell him to look for—it won't be very big, just enough for two people, maximum. He'd have a larger version stashed somewhere, but he wouldn't need it right now—I would use a 60-40 Titanium Steel alloy, and—a pulse-based energy system, concussive force, something that wouldn't ping a regular radar?"

"Comm system is still down," Jennifer says. "Go. I'll hold the fort here."

Steve nods and runs, his mind screaming things at him that he doesn't want to hear. He tries to shut that part of his brain off for now and focus on the chase.

If Not Tony is really, somehow _their_ Tony, he deserves nothing less.

* * *

The whole business with Namor has been a heart-breaking hassle, but at least it means the Avengers have underwater gear ready at hand. And Tony—Tony is doing exactly what Not Tony predicted.

It's a bitter fight, and cold, but T'Challa is able to smash through the submarine window, and Steve and he yank a struggling Tony out. Then Tony's armors redirect from their diversions and there's a fight and a half against them, but—they're the Avengers. And as much as Tony is fighting to escape, he's apparently enough himself that he surrenders rather than hurting any of them.

"I don't know if it will help any of you at all," Tony says, as Thor grips him tightly, "but I didn't know I was lying." He stares at Steve intently. "I _swear_ I didn't know I wasn't your Tony until _you_ found out too."

That doesn't make a lot of sense to Steve. He can't think of a reply. Tony stares at Steve as Thor yanks him away inside the Mountain and his expression looks...weirdly triumphant. Steve turns away and sinks on his knees into the snow as the full implications start to set in. The others kindly don't mention it.

Carol and Thor haul Tony off to the medical bay so that Strange can fully scan him, and Steve...honestly doesn't know what to do with himself.

He's testy enough about the situation that T'Challa makes him clean up after Tony's failed escape because apparently, he's too unbearable to be around. Steve can't help it. It's like the whole world has been turned upside down again. The world keeps doing that to him, he should be used to it. Tony's always been such a solid part of what Steve defines as normality, so for his entire being to be in question again… This is like the Skrull invasion panic multiplied by infinity. Has he really been working alongside a fake?

They'd been so desperate to believe that Tony had survived his coma without harm, and he'd appeared back on the scene, knowing everything Tony should know, looking just like him but _better,_ in a brand new body... Steve had been so desperate to have him back, _alive,_ that he didn't dig too deep.

Pleasant Hill had been one of Steve's first missions after the multiverse was broken and put back together. Steve emerged from the cube months later to find a world wrecked by someone who wore his face, who committed atrocities under his name. And Tony, in Steve's absence, had nearly been killed, had been stuck for weeks in a terrible coma.

Steve missed most of the second superhero Civil War while he was busy being stuck in the cosmic cube. He thought he was grateful. He's not now. It's all too awful to think about. Steve could have so easily been brought back to a world without Tony in it at all. He'd been so grateful that Tony was alive that he hadn't questioned it for a second. He should have. Oh, god, he should have. Steve's trembling and it's not the cold. He should have known Tony wasn't himself. The constant sexual innuendo in Carol's direction. The constant media references. Now he's analyzing the last few weeks, the illusion of it is slowly starting to come apart.

It's just like someone would behave if they'd been—if they'd been _programmed_ to believe they were Tony Stark. All his shallow quirks dialed to eleven.

Steve nearly has an anxiety attack, right out there in the snow, which is ridiculous, because Steve prides himself on keeping his rare moments of panic to himself, in the quiet and the dark, so no one sees him falling apart.

When he has to return inside, because there's nothing left to do out in the cold and snow, Steve asks the security system where everyone is, and he stomps up to the medical bay, trailing snow throughout the Mountain as he goes. Tony's still down in the prison cells, with Thor, Robbie, and Carol guarding him. T'Challa, Jennifer and Doctor Strange are in the medical bay with Not Tony.

Except, Steve realizes, those names might have to be switched. The real Tony is in the medical bay. The real Tony was in a cage under a skyscraper that nearly collapsed on top of him, and Steve hadn't known. Steve found him almost by complete _accident._ If Steve had looked in a different direction, or if the Daughters of Liberty hadn't directed him to that skyscraper at all— He flashes back to the sight of Tony on the floor of that cage, curled up in a fetal position, half-starved, gaunt and sallow—

Steve halts outside the medical bay and puts his hands on the nearest wall as he fights to regain his breathing. This won't do Tony any good. Tony's the one who deserves kindness right now.

Jennifer finds him outside and her face softens at the sight of him.

Steve straightens up, a little too late.

"He is the real Tony, isn't he?" Steve asks, pulling the band-aid off quickly.

Jennifer's sad, somber nod speaks the answer loudly.

"Shit," Steve breathes.

"He was asking for you," Jennifer says, falteringly, "but I can tell him—"

"It's fine," Steve says. He squares his shoulders and walks towards the door. Jennifer rubs his shoulder as he passes and he smiles at her gratefully. It's a sad smile that she echoes.

"Steve," Tony says, at the sight of him, and he smiles like he's genuinely happy to see him.

Steve doesn't deserve it, but it does take off a small weight from his shoulders. Steve feels like he's still holding up an entire, actual mountain with his body, but even this small amount of relief is a kindness.

"Tony," Steve says, and his proud that his voice holds up enough without breaking into a sob. He feels so terribly guilty he can't bear it.

"T'Challa's started to catch me up on what I missed," Tony says. "Honestly, it's a lot to take in." His eyes are shining, even though his body looks incredibly fatigued under the bright lights of the medical bay. "You weren't kidding me, this is an actual dead Celestial?" He gestures at the room.

"Not kidding," Steve says, around the lump in his throat. "Tony—"

"I was sorry to hear about the cosmic cube thing," Tony says. "I'm sorry I never got to tell you that sooner. It must have been horrible."

Steve's chest feels tight. Tony's been in a cage for goodness knows how long, and he's thinking of Steve's pain? It's almost too much to hear. "How's he holding up, Doc?"

Strange shoots Steve a displeased look but sees something in Steve that softens his displeasure. "Now I know what to look for, it's been easier to confirm. The other Tony's consciousness is…fleshed out. But it's also newer than it should be. The new body it's housed in confused my readings."

"I want to see him," Tony says unsteadily before Steve can try and understand even the smallest part of what Strange is saying.

"Are you sure?" Steve asks, because it had taken him a solid weekend to psych himself up enough to see his evil double.

Tony nods. "I want to. I'm pretty sure what's happened, and—" He smiles wryly. "As usual, it's probably my fault. But I need to know for sure so I can start fixing anything he's broken in my name."

* * *

It had been weird to see Tony—who they thought was Tony—standing opposite a nearly exact copy.

This isn't weird.

This is painful.

Tony's gaunt and frail, standing despite the fact it's probably hurting him to do so, and glaring at his double, who's just smirking at Tony. Like this is funny. Steve feels an old rage boil up in his stomach at the sight of a smirking, gloating Tony Stark, but that rage instantly dissipates in one glance at the Tony closer to him. Steve finds himself moving closer to Tony, standing near enough to catch him if he falls.

"You're the AI version of me," Tony says, simply. At Steve's glance of confusion, Tony clarifies, "I made an AI version of myself for in the case of my demise during the war, to help a young woman called RiRi Williams become an armored hero in my place." He smiles faintly. "I'm glad I got to see her in action _once_ before you got rid of me. I presume that was you?"

"Guilty as charged," AI Tony says, sing-song. His eyes are locked on Tony and his smile seems stuck on his face. It's a mocking expression. "You made it so easy, Tony. You always do, don't you?"

Tony swallows visibly and keeps glaring at his other self.

"How could he be an Artificial Intelligence?" Jennifer asks. "All the scans say he's flesh-and-blood, Tony. _Your_ flesh and _your_ blood. You can't tell me your robots are _this_ close to seeming human?"

"It's complicated," Tony says.

"I am an AI. Or I was. Artificial, perhaps. Intelligence, absolutely." This impostor, this fake Tony, this _AI_ Tony smiles cockily. "I think we both know origin doesn't really matter. What matters is what we do, what we make of ourselves. And Tony, I make a _much_ better you. You should honestly sit back and relax, let me do it. I make a better you than _you_ do."

Tony—the real Tony—tries to glare, but his mouth trembles a little. AI Tony is hitting home. Well, Steve supposes, there's nothing like an exact copy of you to know exactly where to hit to hurt you the most. He should know.

He does know, and it hurts, and his vision swims for a moment when he thinks of what's happened to Tony. Abandoned and left alone. No one even looking for him. Steve didn't even know to look for him. Tony must have been thinking so many dreadful things.

"Your beloved RiRi was right," AI Tony says, hollowly staring at Tony, but his eyes are unfocused, like he's trying to look right through him. "She guessed early on that I was enjoying the Tony Stark experience too much. She asked if I wanted the real Tony to just go away. I guess that's where I got the idea." His gaze refocuses and moves upwards so he's staring Tony in the face. "I've done a good job of being you. You should have stayed where you were."

Tony glares back, his voice low and hard. "Why didn't you just kill me? If you were that desperate to replace me?"

AI Tony laughs and shrugs, leaning back on the bench. His body is well-fed and entirely healthy and that's beyond obvious by the easy, casual way he stretches out. "Hubris, of course. Our desire for immortality is a virus, Tony. It's eating us up from the inside out. If you were dead, I had no back-up. Why don't you tell them how you brought Rhodey back? Help them understand?"

Tony shuffles, hyper-aware of Carol's eyes suddenly boring into the side of his face. Tony tilts his chin, almost defiantly. "It's not the first time I've helped transfer Rhodey's personality into a new body."

"This was a lot bigger than the Repro Bod, though," AI Tony says.

Tony huffs. "Last time I grew him a new body, we didn't have access to a working version of Extremis."

Steve tenses. Extremis had been a nightmare wrapped in a thousand worries wrapped in ridiculously low odds of survival. "Extremis—" Steve starts, unhappily.

Tony glances at Steve briefly, a miserable expression on his face. "I know, I wasn't pleased when...a colleague...started experimenting with it, but—he perfected it. Better than I ever could. My _colleague_ went from being trapped in a defective body, stuck in an iron lung, to walking around in a perfect new body." He grins briefly. "Nothing but the best for Rhodey."

"So you grew Rhodey a new body," Steve says, trying not to think about how odd it is to say something like that and mean it.

Tony nods. "I had to dig up Rhodey's body to extract a copy of his consciousness from the infrastructure in his brain. But I didn't have a Repro-Body ready for him this time, so I had to use the good genetic material left in his body in the new Extremis-enhanced Repro-Pod. There wasn't much. It had been so long since Rhodey's actual death that…" Tony can't look any of the Avengers in the eye. "I only had one shot to get enough viable cells and body matter."

"So there's definitely no Rhodey out there, waiting for us to find him?" T'Challa asks.

Tony shakes his head. "Thankfully, no. There wasn't enough material for a do-over. I had one shot to get Rhodey right. Look, I debated the morality long and hard. I had to. It was one of the most selfish decisions I've ever made in my life, and you all know me, there's been some winning entries in that category. Bringing back Rhodey was a longshot, but it worked, and I won't regret doing it. I refuse."

"But you see what I did now, right?" AI Tony closes his eyes and tilts his head back. "I couldn't resist. You were alive. That meant there was more than enough genetic material with some to spare to make my own _you_. So as soon as Rhodey's resurrection was successful, it didn't take long to find a good opportunity. After that last battle— _you_ remember, Tony, when our dear old daddy came home?—as soon as Rhodey left you, I took control of your armor and knocked you out."

"So you took genetic material from me—" Tony says.

"Put it into Repro-Pod 2.0, built a whole new body, and took up residence," AI Tony says, wiggling his fingers in a ' _ta-dah_!' motion. " _Et voila_ , here I am. I knew I'd hate the limitations of a human body, but there's been some perks, I can tell you. And being Tony Stark for real…" He opens his eyes again and grins at Tony. "I've had some fun being you. Accidentally smashed your company into the ground, though. Guess I'm glad after all to not be the one having to clean up after that disaster."

Tony glowers. He hasn't had much time to catch up, but he must have had enough detail from T'Challa and Strange while Steve was outside on clean-up duty, because he doesn't press for details. "So you kept me around…. just so you could mock me?"

"Please," AI Tony says, dismissively. "I didn't _know_ I was keeping you around. I blocked my memory of that, remember? Nah, it was purely a self-preservation thing, if you pardon the pun. I couldn't risk losing the genetic material I had of _you_. Just in case something happened and I needed a brand new host. I have protocols in place ready to grow a new body if I need it. I can just hop right in, good as new." His eyes glitter as they sweep over Tony's broken, damaged, original body. "Better than new."

"Wait, are you saying you can… leave that body and go into someone else?" Steve asks, slowly, horrified at the implication.

"I can only go into a new empty shell, don't worry, Cap." AI Tony winks at Steve. "It's too bad I can't. You should be grateful, really. It's for your sake that I'm stuck in this body for now."

The _for now_ is a highly uncomfortable thought. For Steve's sanity, he sticks to the part of that answer that is still appalling enough. "For my sake," Steve repeats, confused, as everyone looks at him curiously.

"Well, humanity's sake," AI Tony clarifies. "I'm an AI version of Tony Stark. Which means I have his memories, his personality. I _am_ him, in most of the ways that count. I like to think I've made the personality my own in these last few months, of course. But I'm not a monster, Steve. I might be a copy, but I'm an exact one. I don't want to harm the world. And I have, in my head, the only usable copy of the Uni-Mind power left in the Universe. I'm hardly going to toss away a perfectly amazing ability like that, just to escape one lousy prison."

"I can't be here right now," Tony says. His face looks pale as he stumbles away.

"I'll go with him," Thor says. Steve's grateful. He doesn't think Carol would be welcomed, T'Challa needs to be here for this, and Robbie's too young to be capable of keeping up with Tony. Especially a Tony whose mind isn't in the right place.

AI Tony is more clipped with his speech once Tony—the _real_ Tony, oh god, Steve's not going to be over that fact for a while, if he ever even _should_ ever get over it—has gone. He's earnest and convincing when he explains he didn't _know_ he was a copy.

Apparently, T'Challa's request for the Uni-Mind had unlocked some back-up programming that AI Tony had temporarily blocked off, along with his memories and knowledge of being a copy. Being cornered triggered that wall to shatter, and now he remembers everything.

"I'm a close enough replication. I knew some things I wasn't getting exactly right. It's funny how none of you seemed to care when I missed the mark." AI Tony beams at them. "I'm a close enough replication to know exactly how he'll be feeling. How he feels knowing that you didn't _care_ enough about him to look closer."

Steve's not entirely sure _he_ can be here right now.

"I'm glad to see you, Steve," AI Tony leans closer, resting his hands on his knees. "It's nice to see you as yourself, not as a vindictive despot. He was a _card._ All that gung-ho earnestness, dialed in the wrong direction? Honestly, you made a compelling villain, Cap. No wonder America's still terrified of you."

Steve flinches, but tilts his head up, glaring at AI Tony coolly. "You're not worth my time," Steve says, clipped, and turns on his heel, walking away from the prison cell.

No one follows him, which he appreciates. He storms all the way to the gym, launching the holographic training program and turning the strength of his opponent as high as the safety parameters will go. He quickly changes into his training gear, wraps up his fists, and throws himself into the fight, cycling it over and over until his body starts to feel a little of the burn.

Every punch he throws is another thought. Steve's fought alongside AI Tony. Taken him to a bar to wheedle him—to convince _Tony—_ to come back to the Avengers, because he always fucking has to. Every time he has to draw the Avengers together anew, he always drags Tony back in. AI Tony had come kicking and screaming and complaining the whole time, but he came anyway, and Steve had been—Steve had been so _fucking pleased._ Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, together again. Stripping back the Avengers to their basic needs, their basic calling. To do what others couldn't. To fix what others can't.

How do you fix something like this? Steve has no idea.

Even after an hour of punching holograms—and oh, Steve realizes too-late why his first inclination was to fight a computer program—Steve's not sweating. He wishes he was. He wishes he could run himself into a stupor. His stomach growls, and he automatically climbs out of the boxing ring to head towards the kitchen, and then he feels guilty, because while AI Tony had obviously set up Tony's imprisonment so he's been vaguely kept alive, Tony's physical condition reveals it hasn't been a kind imprisonment. He won't have eaten enough for weeks, probably.

Steve stills and tells his brain to shut up. He won't be helping anyone if he starves himself. That kind of thought is selfish. Steve needs to be fighting fit, because maybe Tony won't even want to be Iron Man anymore. Steve wouldn't blame him. And if that's the case, they'll need Captain America to stay strong and not lose it. They can't lose both of them at once.

With that in mind, Steve unbinds his hands and heads to the Spine Lift. He's a little surprised to see Tony in the kitchen. Robbie's hovering awkwardly by the fridge while Tony sits at the table, a bland bowl of oatmeal in front of him that he's stirring awkwardly with a spoon. There's a tablet next to the oatmeal and Steve's heart leaps when he realizes it's displaying a headline about _Stark Unlimited_ and the eSCAPE fiasco.

"Oh, thank goodness, you're here," Robbie whispers, hurrying toward Steve. "Can you take over? T'Challa doesn't want him alone until he gets his bearings here, and I promised Gabe I'd help him with his homework."

Steve nods silently and Robbie quickly makes his escape, leaving Steve and Tony alone.

"I never would have released the eSCAPE," Tony says, hollowly, as Steve moves cautiously closer to him. "I guess he thought he was better than me. Enough to fix the obvious vulnerabilities." Tony pulls a face as he continues to scroll down the page. "I would have hired Andy Bhang, though. I totally would have. It's such an obvious move."

"Tony—" Steve starts, but falters. He doesn't know what to say.

Tony keeps staring at the tablet as he says, "You never noticed it wasn't me. But then, I never noticed your doppelganger wasn't _you._ They told me you were switched at Pleasant Hill? I did more than one mission with him after that happened. I should have noticed."

Steve swallows awkwardly as he pulls a protein shake from the fridge. "Our lives are weird," he offers, because his chest hurts, but it's not fair to dodge the topic when Tony's brave enough to bring it up. "And it was a different situation," Steve says, cautiously, drawing up alongside Tony. Tony nods and Steve takes the chair nearest to him. "My double had his memories changed to believe he'd always been deceiving everyone in pursuit of what he wanted. Yours didn't even know he wasn't you until today."

Tony huffs an unamused noise. "It's messed up, that's what it is."

"Well, there is is that," Steve says. "It's also a Thursday."

Tony makes a snort that might have been a laugh in another lifetime. "It's always a Thursday," he says, and looks up, and then his face does something complicated. It creases and folds into an expression Steve can't describe, and his eyes are wet.

Steve takes a mouthful of his protein shake. It doesn't taste like anything much. He lowers the drink and awkwardly tries to return Tony's stare. "Do you have to look at me like that?"

"Sorry," Tony says, not sounding too sorry. He looks away, but that just lasts for a second before his gaze returns back to Steve and he's smiling. It's a tired smile but a genuine one. "I'm not sure I can. I thought—I was starting to think I would never see you again. I was starting to think you knew I was missing and just didn't care to look—"

"Tony," Steve interrupts, winded by the pain in Tony's voice at those last, hurried words. "I can't—I can't say I don't regret not knowing. But if I'd known, I'd have looked." He stares at Tony, willing him to believe him. "I promise. I'd have ripped the world apart until I found you."

Tony's mouth wobbles and his eyes shine. He nods as a response, unable to form the right words.

"You should probably get some rest if you're done eating," Steve says, his eyes tracking Tony's face worriedly.

"I was going to," Tony says, slowly, "but I don't—I honestly don't know where to go. I don't know where's safe, or what properties I have any more outside of this place. I guess I have a room assigned here, but that—that would be _his_ room, not mine. And a lab, there's a lab he's been working in, I suppose."

"Yeah. We can sort something out."

"I would also kill for a shower," Tony says, glancing at Steve almost hopefully.

"The showers are communal here," Steve says. "I can show you where they are. And I can get you some fresh clothes." He pauses. "I'm sure that—AI Tony was always well dressed, he must have had clothes here—"

"No," Tony says, harshly. Then softer, "No. Please, just—if you've got something I can use, I just—I don't want anything he's touched. Not until I can take some time, figure out what he's done in my—In my absence. To my life, to my company. I can't—"

He's panicking and Steve can feel the echo of it in his own body. He reaches out to touch Tony's shoulder, and Tony's panic softens and stills. He leans into Steve's hand like he's desperate for it, and who wouldn't be touch starved after weeks of incarceration? Steve knows that better than most.

"I'm sure we can work something out," Steve says. "Let me show you to the showers."

* * *

Steve stays just out of view of the shower cubicles, sitting down on the changing benches with his back turned, listening intently to see if Tony needs any help. He's weak after his months of incarceration, but he refuses Steve's help. Tony's need for independence is stubborn enough to carry him for now, but he's a genius who knows he's not in the best shape. Tony's a fan of compromises, so when Steve insists he's going to stay close, Tony doesn't protest.

Tony emerges into Steve's view a few minutes after the shower's turned off. He's wearing a pair of sweatpants, the string tied double around his waist but they still hang low on his hips, and a t-shirt proclaiming him an _AGENT OF WAKANDA._ He takes the towel Steve offers him and runs it over his messy, too-long hair.

Steve offers him a shaving kit, or help getting to a barber, but Tony shakes his head.

"I don't want to look like him," Tony says, meeting Steve's eyes just for a second.

Steve nods tightly, understanding, although his urge had been to rend the other Steve's image into pieces. Scratch and scar the face to match the monster below the surface.

"You should have seen me, the moment I woke up from the coma," Tony shakes his head ruefully. "Bald as a baby."

Steve tries to do the math and fails. How long was Tony down in that cage?

Tony answers Steve's unasked question. "Oh, I used a serum to try and make my hair grow back faster. Rhodey was bitching about his eyebrows, so I used it on him first, and it worked, so I guess I used a bit too much on me, and I couldn't wash it off when I meant to because I suppose that was when the AI got me." Tony smiles wryly. "Vanity isn't my _worst_ sin?"

"There's a lot of people would pay a lot for a serum like that, probably," Steve says, tentatively. He thinks baldness is something regular people worry about.

"Probably," Tony agrees. He sighs. "Arno's going to give me so much shit. He warned me about AIs. Ahh, I hate to give him such a good opening for an epic _I told you so._ "

"Arno. That's...your brother," Steve says, sounding it out slowly. Tony—AI Tony—told him about Arno while they were first getting used to Avengers Mountain. It had been such a weird thought for Steve to wrap his head around, the idea of Tony having a brother. He still hasn't met him. AI Tony said he would introduce them some day, and then never did.

"Yep," Tony says, rocking a little on his heels. "I think I could do with some rest."

"Of course," Steve says. "Your room is—" Then he falters, because it's not Tony's room, it's the room the double used, so will Tony want it? He hadn't wanted the double's clothes earlier. And he'd expressed doubt about it before the shower. _T_ _hat would be his room, not mine._ "You can share my room?" At Tony's brief hesitant glance, Steve says, slowly, "He never did. He's never even been inside it."

Tony looks like he's going to protest, but instead, he shoves his hands in the pockets of the too-large sweatpants and nods nervously, like maybe it's going to be taken away if he's too much of a bother. The urge to protect him and keep him safe swells inside of Steve like a wave, and he has to turn around so Tony can't see the anger on his face and misinterpret it.

Steve is angry, but it's not at Tony. He's angry at himself, mostly. He's angry that he didn't protect him enough to prevent this from happening at all. He crosses to the console on the wall and taps at it, updating his status to _at rest_ and adding a brief note of Tony's location onto the open tracker document for the day, before turning back to Tony, his anger as masked as it can be now by a neutral expression.

"This way," Steve says, his voice a little thick.

Tony nods and follows alongside him, eyes wide as he takes in the new base. Steve tries to remember how he felt seeing the inside of this place for the first time. Wonder warred with disgust, mostly.

Steve lets him into his room, palming it open at the scanner, and once they're in, he makes sure to get Tony to place his hand on the scanner on the inside so that Tony can be registered as an approved guest to Steve's room. It means Tony can let himself in at any time, which Steve hopes is reassuring to him.

Tony looks awkwardly around Steve's room, at the soft couch in the corner, a small desk set up with a laptop, an open closet filled with clothes, and Steve's favorite cold-weather jacket hung up on the door. His gaze lands on the large bed in the middle and then darts away like it's forbidden.

"You can take the bed," Steve assures him. "There are some fold-up beds in storage, I can—"

He turns as if to go get one, but he's stopped by a hand on his wrist, and Steve turns back to see Tony looking at him with a wide, frightened expression.

Tony pulls his hands back, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry," he says, "I just—I know it's a lot to ask, but—I just—"

"Anything," Steve says, as Tony's words falter. "If there's _anything_ I can do for you, just ask."

Tony squints, like he can't trust something like that, so Steve does his best to keep his gaze fixed on Tony's. Tony stays silent for a long moment, working up the courage to speak. Steve gives in to his urge and he reaches out to touch Tony's face, just resting his palm against Tony's right cheek, and Tony pushes into it with a noise that almost sounds desperate. It's the same noise Tony made when Steve found him in the cage.

"I don't want to be alone," Tony admits. "Can you—" He shuts his eyes then, as if it's already cost him too much to say that little.

"Of course," Steve says, his voice low and urgent. "Of _course_."

They haven't had to share a living space this closely before, but Steve would have been hard-pressed to swear to that because of how well they actually move together. For a second, Steve catches himself thinking it's almost _nice_ to be sharing a domestic moment like this one, except then he remembers everything that's led up to this moment and his mouth tastes like ash.

Tony nearly delights over the fact that Steve has a spare toothbrush, and spits out blood into the sink after using it. Steve doesn't say anything about it. AI Tony explained that he'd set up a recurring food and water delivery service for Tony, but apparently, hygiene hadn't been a constant consideration, and Steve wants to individually find everyone AI Tony had hired to maintain this deception and sort them out. He's an Avenger, after all, and Tony's poor treatment deserves to be avenged.

Steve brushes his own teeth while Tony gets into Steve's bed. He feels highly self-conscious as he strips and climbs into the bed behind him, gently lowering himself down onto the mattress, but the instant he's under the cover, Tony moves swiftly and just curls against him, trembling.

Steve makes soft shushing noises and holds him. He can't help it. As much as Tony's desperate for touch, Steve's just as desperate to provide it. He feels like he _has_ to know Tony is there, has to know he’s okay. He tangles his fingers in Tony's still-damp hair and just tugs him closer. If he stays awake even after Tony falls asleep, so he can count his heartbeats and try not to think about how close they were to losing him...well, Steve doesn't have to confess to it. Tony needs him to be strong enough for both of them right now, and that's the least Steve can do.


	3. Chapter 3

****When Steve wakes up, Tony's not lying next to him, and Steve's stomach lurches in terror for the full two seconds it takes for him to sit up and see Tony sitting on the end of his bed. Tony's back is a tense line as he stares at something gripped in his hands. Steve sits up the rest of the way and leans closer to see that it's his tablet, and Tony is staring at the security feed showing AI Tony.

"Good morning," Steve says, softly.

Tony startles, and then slowly flashes a ghost of a smile in Steve's direction that doesn't last for long. "He's not even trying to escape."

"You think he's planning something?" Steve asks, pushing the blankets aside so he can move forward far enough to sit next to Tony.

Tony glances sideways at Steve. "Of course he is. I would. He's not a perfect copy of me, but he's close enough." He drums his fingers on the side of the tablet. "Your schedule flashed up earlier. You're supposed to take me up to the medical lab for more testing, as soon as possible."

"Are you all right with that?" Steve asks. "I can genuinely say I haven't seen my schedule yet this morning."

Tony's mouth quirks to one side. "Aw, you'd break the rules for me? I think that's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"I'm sure I've said nicer," Steve says, standing and stretching. He lowers his arms and looks down at Tony. "So, medical lab? Or breakfast? A shower? A tour of the base?"

Tony purses his lips. "All four," he decides.

Steve hovers in the medical lab while Strange and Doctor Nemesis run a whole passel of tests on Tony. Doctor Nemesis prints out a recommended diet plan, and while Tony goes under for another full-body scan, Steve steps back, keeping a wary eye on the whole process. He knows he's being irrational, but he just can't chase away the thought that if he lets Tony out of his sight, he might be swapped again.

Steve's so out of it that he doesn't notice that T'Challa has drawn up alongside him.

"How's it going?" T'Challa asks.

Steve grunts as his answer, noncommittal. "Is there any update on the...other one?"

T'Challa's face is hidden under his mask, but Steve knows his gaze is trained on Tony too. "We spent all night running scans. Stephen worked on him too. As far as we can tell, he's being honest about the fact he didn't know he wasn't the real Tony. It's rather...disquieting. Okoye has some of her agents combing through what we can of Tony's lab, to make sure the duplicate hasn't left any nasty traps."

"I can help with that," Tony says from where he's lying in repose on the scanning bed.

"When you're strong enough to, I would appreciate that," T'Challa says, in a louder voice. "How is he, Doctors?"

"Well enough considering," Doctor Nemesis says. "I'm prescribing a strong course of antibiotics, a rigorously strict diet to help replenish his depleted stores and aid in the healing process, and plenty of hydration and a low-stress schedule. I'd advise he not be on the active register until I'm happy about his body-fat ratio, and _definitely_ no going back to work for at least a couple of weeks."

Tony makes a disconsolate sound low in the back of his throat.

"I don't suppose you would follow any advice I give you," Strange says, eyeballing Tony witheringly.

Tony beams weakly at him. "Aw, you know me so well."

"I'd like to shift my status to inactive too, at least for a few days," Steve says. He's aware of everyone looking at him in surprise. He glances at T'Challa and Strange. "I'd like to help Tony get re-adjusted. I know you _both_ know what it's like to find out a double has been running havoc in your absence, but I think I'm best suited to help in this case."

Strange and T'Challa both nod, accepting Steve's assessment of the situation.

"You don't have to," Tony says, but he looks grateful nonetheless.

"I'm happy to step up to an active role if needs be while the Captain's on hiatus," Strange offers.

"I appreciate that. I've already made a few calls in anticipation, but I'll let you know if they don't pan out, I know your duties in the mystical realm are heavy at the moment," T'Challa says. Strange inclines his head gracefully. T'Challa turns to Steve. "Take as long as you need."

"Thank you. I'll keep you updated," Steve promises.

"Do," T'Challa says, turning and leaving the medical bay as rapidly and silently as he came in.

As he waits, Steve sweeps a careful eye over the copy of Tony's diet plan Doctor Nemesis printed out for him. It's a lot of bland, nutrient-rich food and a caffeine restriction that Tony's not going to be fond of.

Tony's shaky when the two doctors release him, so Steve offers him an arm to lean on as they head to the showers. Tony looks despairingly at Steve's arm for a long moment.

"If it was the other way around, would you let _me_ turn _your_ support down?" Steve asks, keeping his voice low.

Tony glares at him but acquiesces, gripping Steve's elbow and refusing to meet his gaze. "You play dirty sometimes, Rogers."

Steve smirks. "Only sometimes? I guess I'm losing my touch."

* * *

Steve finds some more clothes in the laundry that will fit Tony; they have a lot of spare clothing after the whole mess of the War of the Realms, because suddenly having to house the entire population of Manhattan had been a resource nightmare. Okoye and her team had handled it with aplomb, considering Steve knew how much she wanted foremost to be on the battlefield with her King.

Confirming that his Avengers status is marked as _inactive_ on the roster, Steve ends up picking out civilian clothing for himself too. He hasn't worn anything but his uniform and training gear in the Mountain until now. He doesn't know why he's been so reluctant about it. Maybe it meant admitting this was _home_ for now, and it's still difficult to wrap his head around that his new _home_ is a corpse.

As Steve showers, in a cubicle close enough to Tony's that he can help if Tony needs it, he wonders if Tony misses the mansion as much as he does sometimes. There were long stretches in the beginning where it was just him, Tony, and Jarvis rattling around that old place. Steve realizes it's been over a decade now since they found him floating in the ocean, and he still has nowhere he can really call a permanent home.

Except for Tony. Tony's been his biggest, brightest constant since the very beginning. And Steve nearly lost him. Worse, Steve had come so close to losing him forever and not even knowing it had happened. Somehow all their past conflicts don't seem so awful, next to that thought.

Steve ducks his head under the spray of the shower for an extended moment before turning the water off, grabbing his towel from its hook and wrapping it around his waist before he heads out of the cubicle. As he steps out, he notices Tony's already mostly dressed. Steve's heart twinges. Tony's usually so careful about his appearance, he takes time with it; he likes to spend time taking care of himself. The clothes he's wearing now show prominently that bones are showing where they never have before. Tony's cheeks flush and he looks away from Steve. He's probably feeling vulnerable.

Tony doesn't leave, even though he looks uncomfortable. Tony probably could find his own way to the kitchen from here, but he just stays where he is, drying his hair roughly with a towel and keeping his eyes averted from Steve. Steve can't figure out what to say, so he just focuses on efficiency, getting dry and dressed as quickly as he can.

"Breakfast?" Steve asks, and Tony turns then, his eyes flickering over Steve's face before he stands up from the bench in agreement of the idea.

Tony grabs the dietary list from Steve on the walk to the kitchen and pulls a face at most of the items. "This is baby food," Tony sighs.

"What, uh, what have you been eating?" Steve asks, slowly.

"Mostly protein bars," Tony says, pushing his mouth into a line.

"Just...try and pick something," Steve says, mentally already deciding to hide all the protein bars in the kitchen so Tony doesn't even have to look at one again. "We can go out for lunch, anywhere you want."

"I'm sure there's a load of awesome places to eat in the Arctic," Tony says. Apparently, months of incarceration hasn't killed his sarcasm skills.

"There's a Global Teleporter," Steve says. "Uh, some sort of re-jigged Celestial tech. We can travel anywhere we need."

Tony's eyes shine at that. "I'm going to want to look at that."

"After breakfast," Steve says, trying to be firm because he knows when it comes to lunchtime, whatever Tony asks for, Steve's probably going to bend over backward trying to procure it.

Tony eventually agrees that oatmeal wouldn't be too awful and then he stares in open fascination when Steve makes it on the stove in the kitchen, even though there's a perfectly good microwave. Steve ignores him. Apparently discovering your teammate has been replaced by some sort of copy for a long stretch of time is triggering some sort of massive nesting instinct in Steve, and he doesn't want to look at that impulse too closely.

If slow-cooking some rolled oats over a burner satisfies that urge to protect and provide, then Steve's going to do it.

Tony's hungry. Steve still remembers what it was like to live through the Depression, to never know if your next meal was even really coming, and he forces Tony to talk to him in-between each spoonful because otherwise Tony will just inhale too fast and be sick.

Tony wants to know everything he missed, so Steve tells him about his summer of being accused of murder, and then going on the run, before meeting up with Thor to talk about reforming the Avengers. Thor and he both decided that they wanted to try to reform the Avengers, but stripped back to the core, to the _essence_ of what the Avengers needed to be.

"The other me agreed to being an Avenger again?" Tony puts his spoon down and blinks at Steve curiously. "How did you get him to agree to that?"

Steve looks at him, a little nonplussed. "I don't—" He winces. "Well, I guess you— _he—_ He didn't really agree, not at first, but Thor and I called you and asked you to meet us at a bar—"

Tony snorts. "Great choice of meeting place."

Steve's mouth turns down at the edges. He hadn't thought much about it in the wake of Thor's enthusiasm and joy at the idea that Tony would say yes, but obviously Tony _would_ have had an opinion, and of course it was a careless thought. This is one of those moments where he should have looked closer at Tony. Maybe then he would have discovered the deception earlier.

"Thor thought—" Steve starts, but falters, because throwing blame isn't going to help, especially when _Thor thought_ should be combined with _Steve didn't. "_ Well. Anyway. You agreed to come, and we were talking about it—and the usual happened."

"The usual?"

"Dead Celestials falling from the sky, all of them killed by a marauding world-ending Horde of giant alien bugs—"

"Was it a Thursday? It sounds like a Thursday."

Steve smiles tightly. "Actually, yeah. Anyway—"

Tony narrows his eyes. "Did fake me use the Godkiller Mark 2?"

Steve winces. "I think that's what he called it?"

Tony sighs and pushes his bowl away. He's done well to eat half of it, so Steve lets it go. It's always best to choose your battles when it comes to Tony Stark. "Let me guess, it got dinged up a bit?"

"Lost an arm, I think."

"Awesome. So how did we stop this unstoppable force?"

"Well," Steve says, "uh, well, it was the Uni-Mind. The—fake you, he put us in a Uni-Mind so we could get it ready enough for Robbie—that's Roberto Reyes, the newest Ghost Rider, he's on the team now—to ride it and take the Horde out, so—"

"Yeah, you said the other me had the power of the Uni-Mind before," Tony shakes his head, laughing ruefully. "That's insane. I suppose if he fooled you, fooling Ikaris would be a walk in the park." Tony continues, unaware that Steve's expression has suddenly tightened in realization of another terrible thing he's going to have to let Tony know. "I can't believe he managed to con Ikaris into handing the secret of that over, he always swore it was some sort of ancient and special ability safeguarded by their kind, never to be shared with outsiders. Well, unless they were dead, and better the knowledge was passed on then gone forever, but—"

Steve can see the instant Tony's mind works it out and his heart leaps in sympathy. He knows exactly how it feels to wake up and have so many people you knew and liked be _gone_. He feels gratitude for the way people broke the truth to him, back when he first woke up out of the ice. It's a hell of a difficult job.

"The Eternals are _dead_?" Tony's eyes are wide and tears are definitely welling up, but they don't fall. Tony's gaze is locked on Steve's face in horror. "How?" he asks, in a wrecked whisper.

"I didn't go to Olympia myself," Steve says. He swallows and pushes his own oatmeal away so he can focus on this conversation. "Maybe Stephen Strange will be able to tell you more. But as far as I can tell—the presence of the Horde induced a kind of madness in them, and they ripped each other apart. Strange says...he and the other...the other you… they got there and Ikaris was the only one alive, and he transferred the Uni-Mind power to your...copy before he died."

"Oh god," Tony says, and then, harder, "oh _god_." His hands grip the edge of the table too hard. "Ikaris? Sersi? _Thena_? All just—I don't believe it." He shakes his head. "I don't—"

"I'm so sorry, Tony," Steve says, his own throat catching, because he hasn't had a lot of time since it all happened, and it's only just now really catching up with him too. Fighting with Sersi had always been such a blast. He's so used to losing his friends in a blaze of glory that one slipping away in the quiet, going out with a whimper not a bang, has made it impossible to reconcile into reality until now.

Tony takes a low, shuddering breath, moving his gaze to stare at some sort of invisible horizon, obviously trying his best to stave off tears. "Did the other me bury them?" Tony looks back at Steve, his sorrow starting to slide into anger. "Tell me the other me buried my friends."

Steve's mouth works silently. "I don't know," he admits. At Tony's look of utter grief and dismay, Steve finds himself desperate to fix it. "I'll find out, I promise."

Tony looks like he wants to argue but instead he nods tersely.

Steve's partway through telling him about Robbie, and how impressive it had been to see the Celestial flame into life to join the fight, when a bright voice interrupts them.

"Ah, I wondered if I'd find anyone in here."

Steve recognizes the voice and he looks up, at first in pleasure, and then he realizes the full implication and he freezes.

It's Janet van Dyne. 

Also known as the Wasp.

Also known as the woman Tony— _fake AI Tony—_ has been dating for the past couple of months.

* * *

Jan smiles and waves at Steve and she looks way too happy, considering the situation.

Steve's stomach sinks. T'Challa mentioned putting some calls out, but Steve realizes T'Challa may not have explained too deeply _why_ they needed help. It's not exactly an easy thing to explain over comms or in an e-mail.

"Jan," Steve says, urgently, and Tony turns to follow Steve's gaze.

"Tony," Jan beams as she almost _skips_ towards him, her eyes bright with warm joy. Her head tilts as she moves closer. "How did you grow your beard back so quickly?" She quirks a grin. "I'm not saying I don't like it, _cherie,_ but—"

"Jan," Steve says, in a voice low with warning, and his stomach sinks, because everything's been happening so quickly, but he should have tried to contact her before now, to pre-warn her. He hadn't thought about it, and now it's too late.

Jan turns to glance at Steve, still mid-way to Tony, but she doesn't stop moving, she just steps right up into Tony's personal space and reaches up to touch his beard in fascination. Tony stares at her familiarity in bewilderment.

"I'll make my report in a hot minute, Cap," Jan says with a sigh, "just let me say hello to my sweetheart for a sec—" She leans up as if to kiss Tony and Tony jerks backward, looking over at Steve in confusion, and Jan reels backward as if hurt. She stares at Tony in puzzlement. "Tony, what's wrong? Darling, you look just _awful_."

Tony's blinking rapidly and Steve wishes he could spare him what he's about to figure out, but Tony's smart, and this isn't an agony he can spare Tony from. Tony's mouth goes slack the instant he figures it out and Tony stares at Steve in horror.

"Please tell me this isn't happening," Tony whispers. Then louder, more desperate, " _Please_."

Steve stares at him helplessly. "I wish I could," he says, honestly, and he turns to Jan with an apologetic expression, desperately wishing there was an easier way to do this. Oh god, there's no gentle way to break this to Jan at all.

Tony's breathing is speeding up too, and he's looking at Jan in horror. "Oh god. You're the last person on Earth I'd want to hurt—it was just supposed to be a failsafe, it wasn't—it was supposed to help RiRi, it wasn't supposed to—"

Steve moves in swiftly, getting up from his chair and putting one hand on Tony's back, and Tony kind of curls into Steve's personal space, not really fully touching him, just hunching into Steve's shadow. Tony looks devastated, and honestly, Steve can't blame him. He kind of knows exactly what Tony's feeling right now.

_He touched me,_ Sharon's voice says in his memories, and Steve has to blink that memory away rapidly before he's sick.

"Jan," Steve says, softly. "I know this is confusing right now, but—"

"Tell me what the hell is going on, Steve," Jan says, glaring up at him fiercely.

"I can't be here for this," Tony says, looking wildly at Steve, and Steve nods.

"Go, out of here, tell the systems to take you to my room, ask for the audio guide," Steve says.

Tony nods and can't look at Jan as he leaves the room, shoulders hunched over, his face absolutely haunted.

Steve watches him go, a pang in his stomach that he can't immediately follow Tony out of the room and away from this terrible moment, before he turns his gaze back to Jan. She looks gutted and Steve hates what he's about to say to her.

"First, I just, I want you to know that we're going to get through this, Jan—" Steve starts.

Jan cuts him off abruptly. "Spare me the damn platitudes, Steven, and tell me what the hell happened to Tony? He was fine when I left him yesterday, and now he's here, but he can't stand the sight of me, and he's—he looks like you dragged him backward through hell. What is it? Some sort of—dimensional hopping spell, or time travel, or—"

Steve swallows painfully. He hates that he's the one that has to explain this. "Did you ever meet Tony's AI?"

Jan narrows her eyes. "An AI. Causing trouble. Why am I not surprised." She puts her hands on her hips. "C'mon, let me know what kind of robot I'm going to be stinging this time. It won't be the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last."

"Jan," Steve says, as softly as he can, and apparently his tone is clearer this time, because her eyes well up. "Tony—the Tony we all _thought_ was Tony—I mean, he wasn't a Skrull, but—"

Jan's face does something complicated at that phrasing. "No," she interrupts, firmly. "Do not finish that sentence, Steve. Do not tell me that the man we've been—that the man I've been—" Her voice hollows into a cracked, half-sob, but she's still standing firm and strong. She's always been the strongest of them all.

"He's some sort of copy," Steve says, pushing the words out, even though he wishes he could swallow them down and make them be a lie out of sheer force of will. "A biological exact copy of Tony, with an AI version of Tony….controlling it, for a better turn of phrase?" He wrings his hands uselessly. "Jan, I'm so sorry—"

"And where has Tony been, when all this was happening?"

Steve stares at her helplessly. "The AI had him hidden away in a cage, set him up with some sort of weekly food delivery as far as we can tell, and then wiped his own memory. I promise you, that you weren't knowingly deceived, the AI didn't know he _wasn't_ Tony. As far as this AI version of Tony knew, until yesterday, he _was_ Tony Stark. He never knew any differently. Until—"

"Until?"

"Yesterday. We asked Tony to use the Uni-Mind so we could verify where this other Tony had appeared from, and it just—I guess it just collapsed whatever safety protocol the AI had in place. It restored his memories, and—" Steve shrugs, feeling useless. His head hurts a little every time he tries to think about it. "And that's when we found out."

"This is—this is a lot," Jan says, in a small voice, and she staggers to a chair to sit down. She stares into space. "I've been dating…an exact copy of Tony? Who _thought_ he was Tony all along?" Her voice hitches. "So he didn't _know_ he was lying to me? Well. Well. That's something, I suppose." Then something obviously occurs to her, because her mouth drops open. "He _did_ know," she whispers, and looks up at Steve, horrified.

Steve's hands clench into fists automatically, he can't help himself. He hadn't had any idea Tony was a copy, and Jan _knew_? For how long?

"Not like that," Jan says quickly, shaking her head. "But for the last couple of weeks he's been… obsessed, I guess. Fixated on the idea that he was a copy, that because his body was new he was just a copy of Tony Stark, a copy without a soul, and I told him he wasn't, I told him—I told him he was just… A self-made man." She makes a dreadful hiccuping sound and she looks up at Steve with clear tears in her eyes. "He told me, over and over, and I told him he was _Tony._ And he is. I know Tony. I've been dating him. Steve, it is him, I swear to you—"

"He's an exact copy," Steve says, as levelly as he can. He stands up, rounds the table and gets down to one knee so he's looking up at Jan, making sure his physical form is the least threatening he can make it be. "You weren't to know. We weren't to know. I was just as fooled as you, as all of us have been."

Jan flinches at _fooled_. And then her face drains. "And Tony—all this time I've been laughing and carrying on with—with a copy—and he's been—in a cage?"

The tone in her voice matches the horror Steve feels. He nods silently, his throat clenching closed, temporarily robbing him of the power of speech. He forces himself to swallow hard, clawing that power back.

"He thought we weren't coming," Steve says, his voice cracking, but Jan can understand him, so it will have to be enough. "He thought we must have given up on looking for him." He bows his head a little, fighting back tears, because this isn't his moment, god, this isn't his fucking moment. But Jan's hands slide into his hair, even though all the grief should belong to her right now.

Steve allows the comfort for a few seconds, but then he straightens and gets to his feet, trying to communicate his sorrow to her with just his face. Words over this matter are difficult, and he knows neither of them will appreciate the mindless screaming that's been threatening to crawl out of his throat since this whole thing broke apart. If he speaks now, that screaming might break loose.

"Where's the AI version now?" Jan asks. Her voice only hitches once.

Steve swallows hard to fend off the unwanted screams still lodged inside him. "In the prison cells. Thor, Jennifer, and Carol have been taking turns watching him."

Jan nods and smiles tightly at him before turning and fleeing the kitchen. Steve's hands are trembling too much for him to clean up, so he abandons his usual diligence and leaves the half-eaten oatmeal on the table, heading out to the main hallway, hurrying toward his room and Tony. Just these few minutes with Tony out of his sight have been too many. This impulse is probably going to be problematic at some point.

* * *

When Steve gets to his room, he's almost surprised to see Tony is there. He almost expected to have to go searching, but Tony dutifully followed Steve's suggestion. Tony's sat on one of Steve's couches, his head bowed over the tablet. He looks up briefly at Steve's entry, but then his gaze dips back to the tablet.

Steve cautiously approaches him and slowly sits down next to him. Tony spares him the slightest of glances, but he doesn't protest Steve sitting so close.

Tony's watching the security feed again, his eyes locked as Jan onscreen confronts AI Tony. The volume is turned low, but every word is clear. Steve's missed some of the conversation, but Tony's drawn expression is obvious enough that this hasn't been easy to listen to at all.

"I swear I didn't know," AI Tony says earnestly, staring up at Jan desperately. "I guess I don't know who I am now. I'm Tony, and I'm _more_ than that, and the only real thing I know is that I love you. Whatever else I am, I'm a man who loves you."

"Are you trying to say you _can_ love?" Jan asks, sounding doubtful and sad all at once.

"You've met enough AIs to know we're as real as anyone else," AI Tony says. "I told you I was worried I was a copy—and maybe it's technically true, but you were the one who was right. You know I'm real. You were the one who told me I was a self-made man, and that's—it turns out that's exactly what I am. I'm still the man you were dating. I just...forgot a few things. But it's still me. I'm still me. And I need you, Jan. I need my compass."

Jan stares at him, and then seems to melt with his last words, putting up one hand tentatively against the bars. The light-screen that additionally separates the prisoners away in their cells prevents their hands from touching, but AI Tony puts his hands against the screen on his side, so it looks like they're pressing their hands together, and Steve—he can't imagine what's going through Tony's mind right now.

"You don't have to watch this," Steve says, in a low voice.

"This is so weird," Tony whispers, staring. "Jan and I were good together once, I guess, but I thought too much had passed between us. I thought I'd pushed her too far. I never—I never thought she'd ever give me a second chance."

Steve watches the screen nervously, because the situation is pinging something in his brain. He doesn't have Spider-Man's spider-senses, or Carol's seventh sense, but he knows how it feels to watch a situation that's going to go south, and this feels like that.

The Jan on-screen does flounce off then, looking upset, which settles a little of Steve's nerves even as he inwardly hurts for her. AI Tony is more dangerous than he realized, Steve knows that now. And if he pulls Jan into his orbit, things could be bad. He resolves to keep an eye on that situation.

Tony exhales and lowers the tablet, staring into space for a while. Steve sits and silently waits for him to speak, hoping his presence is reassuring enough, but then time drags on, and Steve realizes he needs to break the fragile atmosphere for Tony's sake.

"What would you like to do now?" Steve asks, softly.

"What I want," Tony says, and then he smiles briefly, and it's a taut, sad smile. "What I really want is to see my mom. I guess that's dumb, huh?"

Steve's heart hurts. He knows exactly how that feels. His own mom died, oh god, over seventy years ago. He knows it's impossible, but sometimes he still wakes up and forgets for a second that she's dead, and has to go through the sensation of losing her all over again. He misses her so much he can't breathe with it.

"I should tell her," Tony says, blinking rapidly. "I don't know if my double even interacted with her, but I should let her know what's going on."

"Uh," Steve says, gently, wincing inside at having to broach something else terrible, "isn't your mom dead?"

Tony's eyes are wide with shock when he looks at Steve. "How?" he asks, his voice and face suddenly ashen. His eyes burn with a sudden growing rage. "T'Challa said something about Malekith being a shit again, was it that? Because I've been to his realm before and nearly killed him once, and that was barely being prepared for it. With proper preparation I'm sure I can squash his blue ass." There's a flash of fierceness in Tony's eyes that's very familiar. Steve knows Tony means it. He's just confused _why_ he would be this vehement about it.

Steve squints. "Tony, your mom died twenty years ago, in a car crash."

Tony blinks, looks confused, and then makes a strangled sort of noise, his anger dying off. "Oh," he says, eventually. "I guess you were in the cosmic cube when the world found out." He looks at Steve. "I'm talking about my birth mom, Amanda."

Steve blinks slowly. "Your birth mom?"

Tony stares at Steve. "It's a long story. I guess I never had time to tell you." He pulls a complex face. "I guess my double didn't have time to tell you it either."

Steve stares. "He told me you had a brother, but only that he— _you—_ hadn't known he existed?"

Tony huffs a noise. "Well, that's the short of it. Arno was the real Stark child, I was adopted. There's a longer story in there, but… Last I knew, Amanda Armstrong was alive." He pauses. "I hope she still is. I was a little busy being held prisoner in a cage in a basement."

The flippancy is a good sign that Tony's starting to feel better, even if the words he uses hurt Steve's stomach. "Amanda Armstrong," Steve repeats. It sounds a little familiar. He squints. "The singer?"

"The rockstar," Tony amends.

"Suddenly so much about you makes sense," Steve says, smirking a little.

Tony winks at him, and for a second, it's like old times, the two of them sitting after a mission and exchanging stories. Steve almost used to term their banter _flirting_ before he knew any better. He's seen Tony actually flirting since, and he feels a pang of embarrassment for his younger self. It was such a good thing Steve had been so slow to understand the new decade that he hadn't even tried to awkwardly flirt back.

"We can find her," Steve offers. "I'm sure she must have one of those tweeting things. Facesnap, isn't it?" Steve keeps his face as straight as he can for as long as he can.

Tony looks stricken for a second before he notices Steve's mouth twitching. "I can't believe I missed your dumb sense of humor," Tony says.

"So we can go look for her," Steve says. "Whenever you're ready."

"I know she took over my company while I was in the coma, and I went to see her after I woke up, and—uh, some awkward things happened." Tony waves a vague hand. "Then I went back to my apartment, so full of ideas, thrilled to have Rhodey back, and then—I guess that's when the AI hatched his plan, because the next thing I knew I was in that cage. I tried to do a brief search this morning, but all I could find was that on _Tony Stark_ 's return, he rebranded the company to _Stark Unlimited,_ and all mention of Amanda just disappears from the 'net at the same time as that damn eSCAPE fiasco."

Steve nods carefully. "Who would know where she is?"

Tony thinks for a moment and smirks. "Well, you might have to help me defy an order from the doctor, because I think it's time I went back to work."


	4. Chapter 4

_Stark Unlimited_ isn't up and running at full capacity, but it's working at a low hum.

The Global Teleporter takes them to the front steps of the building, which impresses Tony a lot. Steve hurries him quickly inside before someone catches a picture of Tony on a cellphone and the whole business unravels publicly before they have time to really figure out what they're going to do about AI Tony and his antics.

AI Tony had believed he was Tony strongly enough that there's been nothing implemented in _Stark Unlimited_ 's security system to stop Tony from heading inside the building unstopped. Tony quickly adds Steve to the list of automatically approved guests and then he just falters in the lobby, staring up at the ceiling.

"I don't know this place at all," Tony says, awkwardly. He glances at Steve helplessly. "He must have built this place with the nano-construction tech I'd been testing before—before the whole Ulysses thing."

Steve looks around. It's new to him too. "There's a map for visitors," he suggests.

Tony nods and is about to look at it when a voice interrupts them.

"Tony!" Bethany breaks into a grin when she sees him, except then her grin fades as she takes his appearance in. Then she notices Steve hovering nearby and she flinches, which Steve hopes is just lingering resentment over the Supreme Leader. It's been a while since Steve last saw Bethany Cabe. He guesses it makes sense that she's working for Tony again. "What happened?"

Tony looks at her and his mouth flattens into a line. "Do you have somewhere quiet where I can catch you up?"

Bethany catches onto his somber tone and her smile sobers instantly. "My office." She looks at Steve warily, but she nods. "It's this way."

* * *

Bethany's face slowly grows paler as Tony explains what's been happening. When Steve shows her the feed showing AI Tony, and verifies that it's true, she cries. Her tears are brief and once she's dried her face, she's almost terrifyingly efficient. The company goes on absolute shutdown so everything can be checked.

"I don't want to inform the shareholders yet," Bethany says, her voice low. "I don't even know if there's legal precedent for _my evil doppelganger stole my identity and ran my company into the ground_. I'll get legal on it. Surreptitiously, of course."

"I appreciate it," Tony says, softly.

Bethany's eyes scan over him again. "I'm so sorry I didn't notice, Tony. We just—we just all figured it was one more Tony Stark miracle. You're kind of good at those last-minute wonders. It's not like you taking one of our projects and speeding them up was anything new."

Tony looks away and then glances at Steve. "Bethany here was on the original team that perfected the Repro-Pod," he says, stiffly. "The first time we grew a new body for Rhodey, it took a year. With Arno's help, the process took days."

"That's less of a miracle and more kind of _terrifying,_ " Steve says, although maybe he's biased because of what AI Tony did with that tech.

Tony gets Bethany to brief him on what the company has been through. His face shutters when he hears about Friday being de-activated, Motherboard's misadventures, and how AI Tony alienated Jocasta. "That was probably deliberate," Tony muses. "Probably some latent programming from the AI, before he wiped his own memories, so that he'd unknowingly sabotage the AIs I already had in place."

"Why would he do that?" Steve asks.

"Either jealousy—he wanted to be the only AI," Tony guesses. "Or fear, because if he grew clever enough to do something like this, another AI might too. Or… well, Friday's clever. She would be the most likely to figure out I wasn't…exactly me."

Steve can't quite meet Tony's eyes and he shares a small nod with Bethany, because she looks almost as distraught as Steve has been feeling since he found Tony in that cage.

"Oh no," Bethany says, and Steve and Tony both look at her sharply. She winces. "I'm so sorry, Tony, uh, your double—he was—he's been dating Janet van Dyne. What do you want me to do, do you—"

"Don't worry, she knows," Tony interrupts, his face crinkling into a sad smile. He shrugs after a long second of just holding Bethany's own sad gaze. "It is what it is. Worse things could have happened."

"Is there anything I can do?" Bethany asks.

Tony asks her for a lot of practical things, and Steve's heart warms at the kindness, because Bethany's the kind of person who appreciates being able to do things for someone when she's upset. Steve can empathize with that.

There are a bunch of half-written AIs that Tony finds shoved in a drawer. Tony rambles as he looks through them on a laptop that he resets thoroughly before using as an interface, explaining how if _he_ were an AI, he would have put subroutines in place so that he wouldn't _notice_ he had an anti-AI bias. There would probably have been a line or more in AI Tony's code to affirm that AIs were difficult to code. They are difficult, Tony explains, hence why so many of his go wrong.

There's a tape marked _Friday_ in the drawer too and Tony holds onto it sadly for a long moment, his gaze flickering to a deactivated robot form on a table in the corner of the lab they're in, before he puts it back into the drawer. He settles on pulling out and a pocketing a tape marked _A_ _rmory_ and then he heads over to the corner of the room with a panel, moving almost on autopilot to palm a panel there. A door slides up, revealing a row of Iron Man armors.

Steve walks over almost automatically, stopping in front of a copy of the Mark II armor and he can't help the fond smile that slips onto his face. He has to shove his hands into his pockets so that he doesn't reach out to touch the familiar, golden mask.

"I always have some around," Tony says, turning to Steve with a brief smile before his gaze returns to the row of armors. "Which one to use now, though. Hmm."

Tony's been cautious with everything in this lab since Bethany showed them to it. Steve understands. How much time had the AI version of Tony had to prepare to be Tony Stark? How many surreptitious plots did AI Tony manage to slip into his own code to maintain the masquerade? He voices that, once, and Tony mutters something about limited space in the subroutines for subterfuge. Steve guesses that Tony's _trying_ to sound reassuring, which...is better than nothing.

"This one," Tony eventually decides, tapping on a gold and black armor that looks a little worse for wear. "The Mark 42. It's in exactly the same state I remember it being. It has a system that can be closed off, like most of my post-Ultron armors. I can strip it back, fix it up. Yeah."

"Are you sure?" Steve says, softly, because he remembers the Mark 42. It's what Tony had been wearing when he'd been turned into that monstrous, inverted version of himself. Steve has a lot of other memories of that armor, but that one is the one sticking out the most.

Tony nods mutely. "The other me… He said something, about _enjoying the Tony Stark experience_ _too_ _much._ " He nods at the other versions, standing upright like suits of armor guarding a castle hallway. "He'll have been drawn to my classic red-and-gold. I could stand here for a week, second-guessing myself, because anything could be—" He shrugs, instead of saying _sabotaged_ or _booby-trapped_. "I just have to trust my own brain and my own hands. This is the right decision."

"Okay," Steve says. "How do we get it back to base?"

Tony grins, flips up the faceplate, touches _something,_ and the whole armor collapses into what looks like a shiny black-and-gold backpack.

They have a brief back-and-forth over who should carry the armor, but Steve reluctantly lets Tony carry it himself in return for Steve carrying the laptop and some of Tony's favorite tools that he mutters about needing to disinfect first.

Bethany comes in as they're finishing packing up the tools. She doesn't know where Amanda is, but she has the cellphone number of someone who might know.

"Andy Bhang, huh," Tony says, glancing down at the post-it note she hands him with the information on. "I always meant to try and hire him."

Bethany's smile is soft and sad. "I guess he was a decent copy of you, because he did."

Tony uses the phone in reception to call Andy and—after a very awkward phone call—Andy does give him a hotel room number for a Manhattan address. It's nowhere near a teleportation hub so Tony calls for his car service. The driver gives him a bit of an odd glance at his appearance and their cargo, but Tony murmurs that the service is discreet and Steve relaxes a little.

It turns out to be a hotel chain that Tony owns a partial share in, so when he shows up, he gets immediately shepherded to a private suite, which makes Steve feel weirdly self-conscious. The concierge gives Steve an appraising look, seemingly not recognizing Steve out of the uniform, and that's such a change to the hostile glares Steve's been getting accustomed to. Steve hopes the hotel staff here are discreet too, because he doesn't want to imagine the kind of headlines this sort of event might generate.

Maybe something like _genius entrepreneur Tony Stark seen hurrying into hotel with mystery blond_. Steve smiles to himself.

Once they get to the suite, Tony immediately makes a beeline for a luxurious soft couch. Steve thinks maybe he's tired, but then he notices the phone next to it, and, oh, Tony knows this place well. Steve shuffles awkwardly, wondering how many times Tony's been in this hotel room before. Whether his AI self used it. Who else Tony might have brought up here, over the years. He swallows down a pang of something that feels almost like jealousy, which is completely stupid. And inappropriate, he adds firmly to his mental spiral. Tony's vulnerable right now and probably in unspeakable pain after weeks of undernourishment and sleeping on a concrete floor. He deserves a solid friend. The kind of friend who should have noticed that Tony had been replaced by an impostor to begin with.

Tony flinches when there's a timid knock at the door. Steve makes a move toward it, but Tony shakes his head, and gestures at the couch, and Steve awkwardly goes over and sits down while Tony stands up.

Tony stares at the door for a long second before hurrying to it and opening it wide, and for a moment, the woman standing in the doorway is frozen to the spot. Steve finds himself staring at her in open fascination, not for the fact that he's caught a couple of her music performances on TV and quite enjoyed the truthfulness of her lyrics, but because he's reading her face for all the hints of Tony that he might be able to find.

There's a long moment where Tony and Amanda just stare at each other helplessly, and then she's in his arms, and she's crying and smiling all at once, and Tony's arms wrap around her tightly. They shuffle into the room awkwardly and Amanda manages to kick the door shut with one heel.

"Andy called me, and told me what happened," Amanda says, after finally pulling back. She holds Tony tightly in the circle of her arms, staring up at him in open wonder and relief. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"Don't be sorry," Tony says, a fierceness in his voice that makes Steve smile, because if Tony still has that fire in him, then Steve is sure everything is going to be okay after all. "Bethany told me what I missed, and you—" His smile widens proudly. "You were the only one who noticed. You knew it wasn't me." His voice hitches. "You'd known me for a hot five minutes, and you _knew it wasn't me._ " Tony buries his head into her neck, and Amanda draws him closer again, sobbing just as loudly as Tony.

Steve feels a little awkward, like he's intruding on a highly private and personal moment he shouldn't be. He sits very still. Tony isn't often very free with his genuine emotions, and Steve has learned that when he _is_ at his most vulnerable, it doesn't take much to spook him back into his shell.

"I knew but I didn't trust myself to follow it through," Amanda sniffs. "I should have trusted my own instincts and follow through what it meant, that you were gone, I was just—too self-centered. All I could think of was that you were _gone_ and that meant you were probably _dead_ and all I could think about was my feelings about that."

"You knew it wasn't me," Tony says, eyes shining. "That's more than enough for me."

Amanda pulls back again and her smile falters a little as she takes in his appearance. "You should sit down," she says, and that's when her eyes catch on Steve. "Oh, my." Her face crinkles. "Captain America. Wow."

"Ma'am," Steve says, softly, embarrassed. "I apologize for startling you." He glances swiftly at Tony, but looks away, realizing from the pink splotching across Tony's cheeks that Tony won't appreciate any too-close scrutiny in this moment. He fixes his gaze on Amanda as levelly as he can. "And I'm sorry it took us so long to find Tony. We were—regrettably more deceived than you were by the copy, and I can't make up for that lapse, but—"

"You're the one who found him?" Amanda interrupts, her tone a little sharp. Steve quails under the look she sends his way. He feels stripped to the core, like she's thoroughly judging him. When Steve nods, her face softens. "You found him, that's all that matters. And—we were all deceived." Her gaze flits to Tony and she gestures at the second couch. "Come on, sit down, we'll get room service, you can tell me all about it."

Steve makes a call down to the lobby to get some food and drinks sent up for them while Tony and Amanda catch-up. As they eat, Amanda tells her version of the eSCAPE fiasco and explains how she left after the other Tony—AI Tony—referred to her as a scheduling problem.

"To be fair," Tony says, awkwardly, "I _do_ get like that when I'm hyper-obsessed over something new." He winces at Amanda, and then over at Steve. " _You're_ used to it, I'd imagine," he nods in Steve's direction.

"Sometimes we had to physically drag him out of his workshop in Avengers' Tower," Steve says, grimacing.

"Sounds like I should be extra grateful he's had you in his corner," Amanda says, and Steve can't quite meet her eye, because, well, he hasn't been in Tony's corner as much as he wishes he could have been. Still, at least Steve knows now for certain that there's _nothing_ they can fight over that will keep them permanently apart. Even if they disagree, Tony always agrees to come back. That means something, Steve thinks, desperately. That means something _real_.

"I would never have released eSCAPE, though," Tony says. "And Motherboard was _never_ meant to be used. She still had a hundred kinks to work out."

"More than a hundred," Amanda says. "She went crazy in that eSCAPE of yours—" She grimaces. "Of his," she amends. "And she made you—him—She made him drink. While he was in there. Just in the virtual space, but...when he came out, I could tell it was messing him up."

Tony flinches and visibly swallows. "Oh," he says, in a small voice. "Well, yes, it would. If he still thought he was me...that would definitely have messed him up."

"But now I know it definitely wasn't you, I'm sure you could have resisted it better than him," Amanda says, confidently nodding. Tony just smiles weakly.

Steve's thoughts jumble at the thought of it. AI Tony thought he was Tony, but had concealed that he'd been drinking again from Steve. He wonders if he'd told anyone. He doesn't think Jan would have reacted well.

"He really must have thought he could handle eSCAPE," Tony says, shaking his head. "And Bethany said he tried to release it worldwide? That was a pipe-dream. Honestly, we're a good thirty years away from having tech _nearly_ good enough to pull off something like that without leaving users vulnerable."

"Probably just trying to run before he can walk," Amanda offers.

"Actually, that does sound like me," Tony admits.

As much as Tony obviously wants to keep talking, he yawns twice in a row, and Amanda shares a glance with Steve over the top of Tony's head that is very clear.

"I should go," Amanda says. "I need to let you get some rest." Tony's face visibly falls and she cups his cheek with one hand. "I know Maria Stark was the mom who raised you, and I'll always be grateful she could, but...I only just got you back. After thinking I'd lost you forever. For maybe the third time. So I know you're a grown man, and I don't have the right, but...let me mother you. Just a little. Indulge an old woman."

Tony presses his hand into her cheek for a moment and nods. For that moment, all his fatigue and pain is wiped away, and he looks almost like the bright, buoyant billionaire Steve met all so many years ago. He'd been so patient with Steve then, showing him the sights, thoughtfully pointing out all the things he must have thought would impress him—only for Steve to throw it back in his face. Steve pushes those thoughts away. The more he lingers on the past, the less he'll be focused on what really counts—the future.

Amanda presses a few butterfly kisses to Tony's forehead and leaves the room first, leaving Tony dazed and staring after her.

"She's really something," Steve says, after she's gone. Tony looks at Steve and smiles at the compliment. "Do you want to go back to the Mountain, or do you want to have a nap here first?"

Tony thinks about it. "I want to see Rhodey," he says, glancing dubiously at Steve, but his eyes drift longingly to the bed. "If I promise to have a nap, can we see him next?"

Steve smiles at the compromise. "Three hours," he offers.

Tony's eyes widen. "I was thinking thirty minutes."

"Two hours," Steve counters.

"Ninety minutes. That's a full REM cycle," Tony says, narrowing his eyes.

"Deal," Steve says, instantly, and can't help his smirk, letting Tony clearly know that was his aim all along.

"I'm too tired to be impressed by that underhanded manipulation to get what you wanted," Tony mutters. He gets to his feet, hand trailing against the backpack that forms into the Mark 42, and then he straightens fully, leaving it there by the couch. His eyes drop to Steve's and he opens his mouth, then snaps it shut.

"I'll be right here while you sleep," Steve says, realizing that Tony must be wanting to ask something like that, but be reluctant to ask at the same time. It's always hard to admit it when you need help, Steve thinks. "I promise. I'll watch you the whole time."

Tony's face softens. He nods jerkily and heads for the bed, lying down and pulling the covers tightly over himself. He curls up with his back to Steve, so Steve settles down on the couch in a position where he can keep an eye over Tony, and he slips out his phone so he can text Rhodey, well aware that Tony's usual method of just dropping in on his best friend at the slightest whim might be nice for regular things, but for a truth bomb this size, a little warning is probably a good idea.

* * *

Steve takes the liberty of calling Tony's car service, arranging a car to take them to the nearest teleportation hub that isn't the Sanctum Sanctorum, because honestly Strange's house gives Steve the creeps. Or maybe it's just the sentient snakes living on Strange's coffee table.

When they appear back in the base on the Global Teleporter platform, Rhodey's already there waiting for them. Steve catches a glimpse of Carol's blonde hair flipping away through the door as they materialize. He thinks Tony missed that. She's making herself spare, probably bracing herself for a second confrontation with Tony about their issues. Steve had been so happy to hear that Tony had buried the hatchet with her so quickly, but Carol's realized the fact that Steve hadn't thought about until now: that hadn't been Tony.

"I'm so sorry," Rhodey blurts immediately. Tony doesn't say anything, just sort of hurls himself forward and Rhodey catches him, and Steve stands awkwardly by for a second. He feels suddenly and highly superfluous. Rhodey pulls back from the hug after a second, his face creased. "I didn't know, man. I've been down to see him, and he's—man. I just—you made _me_ a brand new body, so I just figured—"

"Hey, no, it's fine," Tony says. "This isn't the first of my inventions to bite me in my ass and it won't be my last." He wraps an arm around Rhodey. "Tell me everything I missed."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Tony thinks about it. "Leonardo Da Vinci had just helped me knock out my evil biological dad?"

"Uh," Steve says, clearing his throat loudly. Tony and Rhodey both startle and look at him. "I'll just take your tools to my room. You know you can come get them any time."

Tony's gaze softens and, after a pause, slips the Iron Man armor off his shoulders and hands that over to Steve too. "Keep this safe for me?" he asks, in a low voice.

Steve nods, startled by the gesture. "Of course."

Tony turns back to Rhodey and loudly says, "Okay, bud, how about you show me around this place."

"I've been here _once,_ " Rhodey yelps, as Tony wraps his arm around his shoulders again.

"Then we'll have an adventure finding our own way around," Tony says, grinning brightly.

Steve watches them go, standing awkwardly in place for a longer moment than he'd like to admit to. He has to clench his jaw to resist the urge to trail after them. Tony's with Rhodey. He's perfectly safe. The security system in the Mountain is good. He has nothing to worry about. He repeats that to himself as he stomps to the stairs, although he almost regrets not taking the Spine Lift, because even with his strength, walking downstairs with the heavy bag of tools and the Mark 42 backpack is a test even of his balancing skills, especially when the bag breaks part of the way there.

Steve manages to neatly distract himself by arranging the tools neatly on his desk, but that takes him five minutes. He spends another five minutes with the Mark 42 backpack, moving it from place to place. He hangs it on the hooks by his main door, but regrets that after a second. He tries putting it under his bed for safety, but then thinks Tony might want to see it. He puts it on the desk with the tools, but that makes it look too cluttered. He settles for turning his desk chair around and balancing it carefully on the seat.

Then Steve stares at it dubiously, because he's just wasted five minutes doing something unnecessary just to avoid dealing with his own thoughts. He moves to sit down on the edge of his bed, but aborts that movement at the last second, and then stands there uselessly staring at his rumpled bed sheets for a long, disconcerting moment. He didn't square away the bed like he usually does every morning.

This hasn't been like every morning. Waking up with Tony is definitely not an every morning thing. He remembers a time when Tony woke him up in the morning, watching him nervously because Steve had been having nightmares—and in hindsight, Steve realizes Tony must have been stressed out that whole time, knowing the end of the universe was coming, thinking— _knowing—_ he had to hide it. Knowingly maintaining a lie.

Steve staggers to his couch and sits down heavily, pulling a face when the furniture squeaks. He's experienced over a decade and a half of modern living and he still forgets sometimes that he's not the beanpole he used to be. It takes more than a sharp wind to snap him now. The things that break Steve aren't fists or weapons or explosions. Words and thoughts and ideas, they're the real dangers.

Lingering over the past is a bad habit. Tony knows that Steve is here if he needs him. Steve doesn't need to shadow him every second of every day. Tony's not going to disappear again, is he? Steve only realizes his fingertips are digging into his knees when it _hurts_ , and the slight pinch of pain snaps him out of his stupor, and he's reaching for his tablet automatically before he can think about it. His fingertips dance across the screen and he calls up the security feed, quickly flicking through the cameras and only settling when he finds Tony and Rhodey.

They're down in the biggest basement sub-level, looking up at the whales, Rhodey gesturing at the hot springs and laughing at something Tony says. The other Tony had been fond of the whale-viewing room too. Tony says his AI was designed as a close replication of his personality. Steve wonders just how exact a copy he is, to have deceived so many of them so easily.

In essence, AI Tony is so close a copy of Tony that he nearly completely deceived himself. Not _entirely,_ according to Jan. AI Tony was already questioning himself, obsessed with the thought he was just a copy of Tony Stark, a copy without a soul. So much a genius that he couldn't even hide the truth from himself.

Steve has never felt so useless before in his life and he doesn't know how to deal with that.

Watching Tony on the feed soothes him more than it should. He keeps the audio muted, trying to justify to himself that it's less invasive that way, although when he has that thought, he has to put it down for a minute.

This is ridiculous. Tony won't appreciate someone thinking he needed constant supervision. Or maybe he'd be pleased someone was watching his back. But then, he's with Rhodey, so he's safe. But it sounds like Tony had been with Rhodey just minutes before AI Tony hatched his diabolical plan. So Steve's not being irrational to be wary. Not that he's nervous of Rhodey, but clearly Tony's mental state after Rhodey leaves his side could be considered as—

Steve laughs and then swallows the end of the laugh back, because it's just a hysterical outburst that is entirely, incredibly stupid. He's being overprotective and he needs to nip it in the bud now before Tony forcibly tells him to quit it. It makes sense that he'd be hyperfixated on the problem, because he's feeling deeply guilty.

Amanda knew Tony was wrong. Steve didn't. He should have. He _should_ have.

His eyes drift back to the tablet and he picks it up again. It takes him a moment to find Rhodey and Tony in the game room. It looks like they're talking smack to each other over the air hockey table. It's good for Tony to have a friend at a time like this, re-entry into a world that's different from how you last remembered it is hard. Steve's lucky he's had Tony since the beginning, because if he'd had to flounder into the 21st Century completely alone, Steve's not sure he would have adjusted so quickly.

Of course, Tony had been _too_ comforting, and nearly convinced Steve he wasn't needed at all. Steve stares at the tablet and curses under his breath. He's being stupid. Tony doesn't need someone doing this. If anyone needs watching… it's the _other_ one. The fake Tony. The _phony_ Tony.

Steve locks his jaw as he thinks about it and then types rapidly into his tablet, setting up a constant stream of AI Tony in his jail cell. He's the one that needs watching.

He frowns as he settles in to watch the feed. AI Tony's cell has changed a little. There are some books in the cell now, a few blankets, a crate of water bottles, and a couple of boxes of protein bars. Steve's mouth curls disdainfully. AI Tony wouldn't hate them like the real Tony does. Tony's AIs have caused problems before, but this might be the worst one yet.

Steve swallows. He doesn't have to watch the whole thing. He taps a few commands into the program, so that if the volume goes up too much, or the security barrier is disrupted at _all,_ then his tablet will beep and alert him to watch the feed. This is the sensible thing to do, Steve thinks, and he forces himself to put the tablet down.

* * *

So, Steve maybe takes the tablet with him when he leaves his room. And Steve might program the holo-trainer to give him his daily exercise in five minute bursts so that he can keep a better ear out for the program alert. It's sensible. This is a sensible procedure. Tony is safe with Rhodey right now, and Steve just feels better having the tablet right there to be able to check on AI Tony any time he wants.

Okay, maybe it's a little of an unhealthy obsession. But at least he's stopped staring constantly at the feed and he's stopped stalking Tony throughout the base. Little steps towards an end goal. It's all good progress.

His tablet beeps mid-training burst and Steve turns to look at it immediately and gets socked in the gut for giving in to the impulse.

"Holo:trainer off," Steve gasps, and stumbles over the ropes to grab at the tablet, his hands shaking. He shouldn't have stopped watching it, what if AI Tony is escaping right now, and Steve can't get there in time? Maybe he'd take Tony away, try and replace him again—

Okay, maybe he's being overly paranoid. Still, Steve's breathing doesn't settle when he looks at the small screen to see AI Tony standing in his cell, facing a visitor.

Facing Tony.

It's a distorted fairground hall of mirrors, the two of them staring at each other. AI Tony looks so much more alive and vibrant than Tony, but that's been part of the trick. A vivaciousness and charm difficult to look away from. Steve's been so relieved that Tony came back, that he said yes one more time to Steve's recurring plea, _come fight alongside me, I can't do this without you._ Steve had thought he and Thor were pushing their luck, but Tony had fought alongside them, and hadn't left at the end, and Steve hadn't wanted to look that gift horse in the mouth.

Steve clenches his jaw and turns the volume up, because AI Tony's mouth is moving, and Tony's shoulders are tense. Steve needs to hear this conversation.

"I can't believe you would even do that," Tony says, his voice low and earnest.

"Jan loves me," AI Tony says, shrugging. "She still loves me, I can tell."

Tony has a curious expression on his face when he stares back at AI Tony. "You forget something, buddy. I _am_ you. You're me. Close enough that I know she's not who you really want."

Steve squints. Tony was dating someone a while ago, wasn't he? Doctor Amara something, a talented biophysicist. Steve hadn't realized it had been all that serious.

"She's _real,_ " AI Tony taunts. "Not some dumb pipe-dream. I grew up while you were lying around in your own filth. I realized I had to stop dreaming and go for something _real_. Jan loves me. I love her."

"She always has been amazing," Tony says. "I'm not sure why you'd risk ruining your friendship with her."

"I didn't know I _wasn't_ you at the time," AI Tony says. He smirks. "You'd have made the same decision I did, to ask her on a date. We'd just come back to life, when Carol should have killed us, by all rights. It's probably the first time in our life we've felt invincible outside of the armor."

Tony tilts his chin mulishly. "If you'd really felt invincible, you wouldn't have asked _Jan_ to date you."

There's a weird tension in Tony's face and Steve's breath hitches.

"I wanted to be you, but a better you," AI Tony says, softly. "You know what's been holding you back from committing to anyone. You've always known. I knew too, but I could do something about it. I amended my code to block those feelings before wiping my memory."

Whatever that means, it makes Tony huff wryly. "No wonder you weren't a perfect copy."

"What, because loving someone is such a fundamental part of being _Tony Stark_?" AI Tony shakes his head. "Pining uselessly for years over someone you never have a chance with is sheer stupidity. You've always known it. You tell yourself that at least once a day. It's always been holding you back. You're just jealous I found some way to actually get over them."

Oh. Maybe it's his ongoing never-quite-there relationship with Pepper, Steve thinks, sadly. Tony's carried a torch for her for _years_.

"Loving someone like that is the core of who I am," Tony says. Tony smiles and honestly, it's such a bright expression that Steve has the urge to take a screenshot because it's beautiful. "I don't need someone to love me back when loving them makes me a better person. They're the reason I try to be better. Why I strive so hard to be a hero. And you think you could be a better me? Without that?"

"It made you weak," AI Tony hisses back.

Tony shrugs. "It makes me strong."

Tony's reaction is obviously making AI Tony angry, which Steve finds pleasing, and Tony backs off without saying anything else, leaving AI Tony to splutter and Steve's chest bursts with pride.

Tony is strong. He's so strong. Pepper's so damn lucky to have someone like that pining after them. Steve's always thought Pepper Potts as another of the geniuses in Tony's orbit, but maybe she's not the genius he's been supposing she is if she could have someone like Tony forever and hasn't realized or accepted it.

Steve realizes he's not going to be able to concentrate on any further training, so he changes into something warmer and sets out to find Tony and Rhodey. He uses the security system to guide him and swallows hard when he has to specify which Tony he wants to find.

He finds Tony in the hot springs cavern, staring up at the whale-watching windows. Steve holds back and watches him for a second, trying desperately again not to think about how close they were to losing him again. Tony stares at the whales, the light reflecting through the water rippling over his face, illuminating his weary face in an almost ethereal way.

Steve slowly approaches him so that Tony doesn't look up and see him staring at him like a total loser. He doesn't know what to say as he draws up near Tony and he settles for silence instead. He hopes it's comforting rather than creepy.

"Can I stay with you again tonight?" Tony's still watching the whales, probably to make the question seem casual, but he's trembling a little, like he's scared of rejection.

"Of course," Steve says, pleased that he's asking. "Of course. Any time." Then he realizes the silence might get awkward now, so he opts for something safe and obvious, because Rhodey isn't there. "Did Rhodey enjoy the tour?"

"Rhodey's still here," Tony laughs briefly and turns his head briefly to grin at Steve before his gaze returns to the whales. "Man-Wolf was dropping by with some fresh intel for Director O while I was showing Rhodey the Signet Ring bay, and they started talking helicopters and planes, so I just slipped away. John said he's gonna take Rhodey home, so I left them to it, decided to...go for a walk."

"And found yourself here," Steve says. Tony hasn't mentioned seeing his AI self. Steve's not going to be the one to bring up the fact he was snooping.

"I like it here," Tony says. Steve can hardly breathe. The other Tony liked this room for the hot springs, but Tony seems more fascinated by being this close to the whales.

"How are you?" Steve asks, and then immediately wants to take the question back, because it's so fucking stupid. Of course Tony's not going to be okay.

"There's been a copy of me running around, wearing my face, wearing my name, doing who knows what in my name." Tony huffs as his eyes track the nearest whale like it's absolutely fascinating to him and not just a reason to not look Steve in the eyes. "I guess out of everyone here, you'd understand how I'm feeling the most."

Steve inhales sharply, stung by the reminder more than he wants to admit. "I suppose so."

"How did you come to terms with it?" Tony asks, and turns to Steve.

"Well," Steve says, contemplatively. "I went on a road trip. Punched a few idiots. Got arrested. Went to jail. Got my big toe nibbled by a curious rat. Started a riot. Went on the run. Y'know. The usual."

"A road trip sounds nice."

"Yeah? I've always wanted to see Australia from the back of a bike." Steve side-glances at Tony. "Next winter?"

"You want to go on a road trip," Tony says, pulling a weird face. "With me."

"Yeah," Steve says, warming to the idea.

"Would you consider swapping the bike for something more reasonable?"

"A car?"

"Well, I was considering matching Iron Man armors," Tony says, and grins fleetingly at Steve's look of outrage. "Yes, a car."

"Only if I can drive at least half the time," Steve says, promptly.

"Hmm," Tony says, pretending to think it over. "You strike a hard bargain. Okay, deal." He hums under his breath. "It's much easier to stare at me in a car than on a bike, I guess that also helps."

Steve stares at the side of Tony's face guiltily, feeling called out and embarrassed about it.

"I don't mind, Cap," Tony says, casually, like they're still just discussing something that isn't making Steve's skin crawl with embarrassment. "Well, come on. Some of Okoye's techs are sweeping my lab and I want to help," Tony says. He finally looks at Steve instead of the whales. "You can stare at me all you like from the lab doorway too, if you like."

Steve's cheeks warm. "Tony—"

"I don't mind," Tony says, softly. "I kind of like it." He smiles at Steve briefly, and then quickly turns around to start walking to the Spine Lift before Steve can say anything else.

Steve curses under his breath at the call-out but quickly gives chase. Maybe he's being _slightly_ over-obsessive, but hey, at least now he has permission to watch Tony for a while longer. Maybe a little extra time is just what he needs in order to convince his brain that Tony isn't going to disappear again.


	5. Chapter 5

Tony hasn't felt up to company for dinner since coming to the Mountain, so it's become a weirdly domestic routine for them to sneak down to the kitchen when they know the Avengers are out, so Tony can sit at the table while Steve cooks for him.

Today's different, though, because Tony announces he still doesn't feel up to company, but says he's still hungry. He watches Steve warily after he says this, like it isn't the casual statement it sounds like. Steve suggests going to make dinner and bringing it back to the room, and Tony nods with a forced casualness that finally clues Steve to what's going on.

It's perfectly reasonable that Tony might want some time alone. Tony's been pacifying Steve's weirdness, _enabling_ it, and it's more than due for Tony to want some privacy. It can't be enjoyable to have a super-soldier looming over you every hour of the day, staring at you the whole time.

This is a healthy distance, a good boundary, and Steve tries not to let his worry show on his face as he asks Tony what he'd like, and then leaves his bedroom like his head doesn't feel like it wants to explode. Steve forces himself not to rush, even though he can feel an energy thrumming just below his skin that makes him antsy and uncomfortable. Like it or not, he'll have to disconnect from Tony. There's no way Tony's going to let him hang around in the background for the rest of his life.

When he gets back to his room, Tony is on the floor, fixing his Iron Man armor. It's in parts all around him in the corner, a laptop open and trailing connection wires to different components, and Steve can't explain how he's feeling. It's an odd emotion, swelling in his chest, one he hasn't felt in too long.

He swallows it away and busies himself with unpacking their dinner from the insulated bag he used to carry it up from the kitchen. It's nothing as fancy as when they lived in the Mansion. While T'Challa and Okoye staffed the mountain with multiple agents to replace all the work Jarvis used to do, none of the agents can cook like Jarvis did. It doesn't bother Steve all that much. Thor's picky about food, so the fridge is always stocked with steak and potatoes, but only the potatoes part of that are on Tony's diet plan.

Re-adjusting to real food after weeks of solely subsisting on an inadequate number of protein bars makes for a complicated re-entry. Steve managed to microwave a couple of potatoes while he grilled some salmon and boiled some green peas. It's not fancy at all, but Tony grabs for it once he's unpacked, and eats it like Steve's brought him something from a Michelin star restaurant.

They sit and eat together on the floor, Steve trying to make Tony talk between each mouthful so he doesn't wolf it down and make himself sick. Tony pulls a face when Steve explains about the vampires and Dracula.

"One thing I'm curious about," Tony says. "I asked the other day but you didn't answer."

Steve watches him warily. He's not sure which question Tony means.

"How did you get me— _him—_ to agree to come back?" Tony tilts his head. "Because I gotta say, I was pretty sure I'd never be an Avenger again."

"You were—" Steve clenches his teeth and tries again. "He was reluctant. Resistant to the idea. But—he changed his mind."

"You asked him to come back, didn't you?" At Steve's nod, Tony sighs and shakes his head with a rueful smile. "Yeah, that'll do it."

Steve's chest feels tight. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Tony repeats, rolling his eyes. "If he's an exact copy of me, then...I mean, it's what happens every time, isn't it?"

Steve doesn't know what Tony means by _every time_. "How so?"

"We fall apart," Tony says and gestures incoherently with his fork. "The Avengers fall apart. And I think I'm never coming back, and you ask me, and before I know it, I'm back in my jetboots." He dings one of the boots in illustration and it makes a pleasant ringing noise in the space between them.

Steve nods. It's kind of an accurate description of Tony's Avengers career. "I just find it difficult to picture rebuilding the Avengers without you by my side," he says, startled into that truth.

Tony's eyes lock onto his face with an almost bitter-sweet twist to his face. "You know, I'm glad in a way you didn't notice it wasn't me," Tony says. Steve's gaze flies to meet his, almost hurt by the implication, but Tony continues to smile his strange smile. "Because it meant he was protecting you like I would have. It meant you were safe."

Steve swallows hard. "I should pack our plates away," he says, because he's a coward, but his heart is in his throat, and he thinks if he speaks, it may be something he shouldn't say out loud, something he couldn't take back.

When he turns back, Tony's pushed the armor together, and Steve watches pleased as it forms the main figure of Iron Man before collapsing back into the backpack form.

"It's clean?" Steve asks.

"I'm as sure as I can be that it is," Tony says. He puts a hand out to softly touch the soft curve of the collapsed armor, his gaze fond.

"I'll go take the plates back to the kitchen and get you some more clothes from the laundry for this week," Steve says. "Do you want to shower tonight or in the morning?"

"The morning is fine," Tony says. "I'll clean up here so you don't step on a screwdriver if you get up in the middle of the night."

"That's very thoughtful of you," Steve says, managing to swallow back _and why do you think I'll be doing anything_ _other than_ _being right by your side_ just in time, because Tony needs a friend right now. Something solid in a world where his foundations have been stolen from under his feet.

When he returns this time, the room is clean of most of Tony's mess, and Tony—is standing shirtless in front of Steve's mirror, an uncertain look on his face.

Steve nearly fumbles the pile of clothes in his arms. He rights himself and closes the door behind him, putting the clothes down and pulling off a set for Tony to sleep in. Tony turns a little to take them, but his gaze returns unhappily to the mirror.

"The AI me had the right idea," Tony says, catching glimpse of himself in Steve's mirror. Steve flinches guiltily. He should have taken it down, or covered it up. "Brand new body. No aches and pains, no scars." Tony leans in closer to peer at his own reflection and grimaces as his finger drifts over the spidery network of silvery scars across his chest.

"I like your scars," Steve says.

Tony glances at him sharply. "You do?"

Steve shrugs, trying to find the words to explain it. He looks at Tony's reflection and traces the path of the scars with his eyes, hating that he can name how Tony got most of them. Because of Extremis most of the earliest part of Tony's journey is missing from Tony's body, but there's still a novel of experience left on his skin.

"The other you," Steve says, slowly, "he's plain, which just...shows how new he is. There's no roadmap to show where he's been. No sign of the journey he's been on, or the fights we've survived together. Your scars tell a story." He steps forwards and hesitantly touches one of the scars on Tony's shoulder. "Like this one, from when Cyclops was trying to stop you from finding Hope. Whenever I see it, it reminds me that whatever happens, you can handle it. Whatever life throws at you, you _survive_."

Tony makes a soft noise, but it isn't one of pain, and Steve realizes too late his fingers are still on the scar. He pulls them back and can't quite meet Tony's eyes as he busies himself with folding the rest of the clothes into the drawer he emptied for Tony a few days ago.

"The other you—was so new and whole and I missed how you looked before, I guess," Steve says with a shrug.

"You ever tell him that?"

"No."

"Good." Tony looks satisfied at that and tugs the t-shirt Steve gave him over his head. Steve tries not to be disappointed the scars are hidden away, while being glad at the same time, because Tony's ribs are still too-visible for Steve's calm.

Even though Steve's had a week of this now, he's still not used to how nice to feels, being able to slip into his bed and not be alone. Steve lies down carefully, and he only realizes he's holding his breath when Tony curls into his chest again and Steve reflexively lets it go. Tony's hands grip at Steve's shirt and Steve wraps his arms around him, tugging him in tighter, and Tony's trembling again.

Steve just holds him, feeling helpless, and eventually Tony settles. Steve stares into the darkness, hating himself for every single day Tony was stuck in that cage, losing hope. He thinks Tony is asleep, until Tony mumbles, his voice small, "I would have said yes too. I'll always come back if you ask."

Steve's eyes feel hot and he squeezes them shut tightly and grips tighter. "I'll probably always ask," he admits, hoarsely.

Tony doesn't respond, but his fingers grip onto Steve a little more tightly.

* * *

Tony has to go for a medical check-up in the morning after breakfast. He doesn't let Steve make him anything this time, opting for a banana and yogurt instead, and Steve feels unsettled watching Tony move around the kitchen. Then he feels really unsettled when Tony leaves to go to the medical bay alone, refusing Steve's help in favor of getting more familiar with the audio guides and the base layout.

Steve stares at the empty doorway for much too long. He shakes himself and feels queasy. He wants to follow Tony to the medical bay, to check on him with his own eyes, and it's ridiculous that he's still so hung up on this. It's not healthy.

He gets up in an attempt to do something else other than stare moodily into space and finds himself hurrying down the backstairs. He tells himself he doesn't have a destination in mind, but he can't hold onto that denial as he approaches the door to the intestinal tract jail cells.

Steve straightens his shoulders and moves purposefully now his denial has been stripped away. He knows there's been a schedule for watching over AI Tony, because they all know Tony well enough to know a double of his personality that feels trapped can't even remotely be trusted, and he can see the large hunched shape of Gorilla-Man in the distance.

"I'd like a moment alone with him," Steve says as he approaches him. Gorilla-Man nods and rises from his seat.

"I'll be in the guardroom," Gorilla-Man nods. "Yell if you need help. I'll quite happily punch this asshole into paste, just say the word."

Steve nods as Gorilla-Man lumbers off. AI Tony smiles, too wide to be in amusement.

"I wondered if you'd come to see me," AI Tony says, his eyes glittering from the dark of his cell. "You look upset, Steve."

"I suppose that's because I am." Steve folds his arms across his chest. "I wanted to ask you something."

AI Tony spreads his arms indulgently. "For you, I'm an open book. Ask me anything."

"You're a close copy of Tony, right? _Nearly_ identical?"

"There are small differences. I mean, I like to think I'm smarter."

"But aside from that, you have his memories. His emotions."

"I do." AI Tony quirks a smile. "Enough that I'm pleased you came to see me. I missed you."

"You don't. You can't. Until a year ago, you didn't even really exist."

"Ah, semantics. I might have hidden the truth from myself about my origin, but—apart from one or two things, I do still feel everything like he might." AI Tony tilts his head. "My admission that there _is_ a small difference doesn't surprise you. You've been watching me."

Steve stares belligerently. "Maybe I thought you meant the Uni-Mind."

AI Tony smirks. "It strikes me that if I did, you saying _maybe_ proves this ain't it, chief."

"Don't call me _chief._ "

"I guess you missed that meme while you were busy being squished into a magic cube." AI Tony pulls a face. "But you don't want to talk about that. I know what you want to talk about."

"You do?"

"Of course. Why else ask if I have his memories and emotions?" AI Tony leans forward, puts his hands on his knees. "You want to know how he's feeling right now. How he feels knowing you didn't care enough to figure out I was the intruder. How you didn't care enough to look for him." He regards Steve for a long second before shrugging, moving his hands back onto the bench so he can lean on them. He watches Steve with a half-amused expression. "It's probably not as bad as you're expecting, Winghead, you can relax."

"Don't call me that either." Steve glares. "You've been alive, if we're calling it that, for less than a year. You've been living on a borrowed identity, in stolen space. As much as your computer brain is telling you otherwise, you haven't earned my respect."

"And he has?" AI Tony's smug smirk does fade. "He's a mess. I know that because I _am_ that. Still, I'll stand by what I said. He won't be as hurt that you didn't go looking for him as you think." He tilts his head, and oh, god, it's so weird to have Tony's face looking like this. Cold and manipulative and taunting. "You've got previous."

Steve blinks. "I don't know—"

"When Wanda's little spell stripped away all his inhibitions and morals." AI Tony's smirk is back. "Fought really hard to fix that, didn't you? You really went the extra mile. That spell killed him, long before you brought that helicarrier down on his head. Which, bravo, by the way. Tony actually appreciated that."

Steve takes a sharp breath and stares at AI Tony as levelly as he can. "Do you take pleasure in lying to me?"

AI Tony's face does something complicated. "I've never lied to you."

"I think you'll find that you have. Before you wiped your memory of being an AI, you made the decision to lie to us and that includes me."

"Oh, well if you're going to argue semantics, I suppose I did. But you can relax. Lying to you was a side-effect this time, not the game plan."

Steve keeps his gaze level, not wanting to give the AI Tony the pleasure of showing he's a little rattled by what he's saying. "So you still maintain you thought you were Tony."

"I do. But I will admit I should have known I wasn't the original Tony Stark sooner," AI Tony says, shrugging. "I think Ikaris knew. Before he gave me the power, he said: ' _We are… a lie, Tony Stark_.' I just didn't know I was included in that _we_."

"Jan said you knew," Steve says. "That you felt it. You knew you were _e_ _mpty._ Soulless."

"Jan loves me despite that," AI Tony says, his eyes glittering with something like looks like triumph, as tinged by it is by a soft madness. "You never approved of me dating her the first time around, did you?"

"You were lying to her," Steve says, stiffly.

"And that's honestly all it was? Because I told you, I'm Tony, but I can feel his emotions and remember his memories in high-depth quality, in a way he can't, and…I can remember how pushy you were when I was dating her back then. You were furious. More furious than a well-meaning teammate should be."

Steve glowers. "Now your true mask is showing, you're nothing _like_ the real Tony."

"I am. But you'll never believe me anyway. You've got it in your head not to." AI Tony smiles at him languidly. "Anyone ever tell you how mule-headed you are, Steve? You get an idea and no matter how absurd it is, you pursue it...with maniacal intensity!"

Steve flinches. He remembers Tony saying words a lot like that to him, a very long time ago. "You're lying now."

"Alas, I'm not. Tony's own memories of the time are a bit of a blur, but my brain is better than human. It's an Extremis _creation_. It means I can process every one of Tony Stark's memories in hyper-real clarity. Do you want to know the worst part of being inverted? The thing that hurt Tony the most?"

"I think I know a little of what it's like to see someone who looks like you committing atrocities in your name," Steve says, coldly. He's seen enough footage of the Supreme Leader for a lifetime, and he's seen the scars that may never heal on the country he loves.

"Your perfectly-inverted self was physically separate from you," AI Tony says, waving a hand dismissively. "But Wanda's magic? It didn't erase the lines between what could have made Tony Stark a villain from the start, and the hero he grew to be. It erected a barrier."

"I don't know what—"

AI Tony's smile is wide and cruel. "You didn't know? He never told you? And you didn't even try to help, did you? Just gave him up as a lost cause. Hey, it's just Tony Stark, he's already betrayed you, so what if he ends up as collateral damage?"

"If you're just going to play games, I can leave," Steve says, and does make a move as if he's about to go.

"He was awake. The whole time. Awake and stuck inside his own head. _Watching_ his inverted self do things from behind his eyes, and he couldn't stop him. And Captain, my Captain, he was screaming the whole damn time. You're always his damn hero, right until the end of his days. He was _thankful_ when you killed him, so that the pain could stop. Pain _you_ could have stopped, if you weren't so selfish."

"I'm not—" Steve starts.

AI Tony steps forward, as close as he can to the bars, his eyes accusing. "Tell me you thought of anyone but yourself when the universes were colliding? Tell me you had the Earth's best interests at heart? Because if you're so desperate to hear a _liar_ , you can hear your own voice saying those words."

Steve knows he hasn't exactly got the best grip on his temper. He's not very good when face-to-face with his own anger. He's aware it's a problem. Being aware of the problem doesn't mean he's worked enough on how to handle it, because he's up close to AI Tony's jail bars before he can stop himself, fury making his blood boil, turning the world red.

AI Tony just laughs. "Bet you wish you could kill me right now. A Tony Stark you could probably legitimately kill. I mean, who could convict you for it, with Tony Stark wandering around, alive and well? Bet it's killing you right now that you can't kill me. You might need the Uni-Mind. I'm the only one who has it. Who knows when we'll need it again?"

"You're nothing like him," Steve snarls and steps back before he does something dumb like ripping the jail cell open with his bare hands.

"Fooled you long enough, didn't I?" AI Tony's smirk is insufferable. "Your double knew I was a hologram when he faced me, but I was a real enough _Tony Stark_ for him."

Steve digs his fingernails into the heel of his hands until he can feel the bite of pain there and then he flickers a sour look at AI Tony. "You're never going to be anything more than a cheap copy of the original," Steve tells him, and turns stiffly to leave.

"I remember what he doesn't," AI Tony says blurts.

"Of course you do," Steve says, "you've been the one wandering around for months pretending to be him—"

" _Before_ that. I remember _everything_ he doesn't."

Steve stills. "I'm supposed to care about that?"

"I know you do. I can answer any question you've ever had about Tony." AI Tony smiles at him. "Doesn't that interest you, Steve?"

Steve hunches his shoulders and leaves before he has to lie.

He is interested, just...not enough to do that to Tony.

* * *

Steve's not even sure why he went down there anymore. He shoves his hands in his pockets and takes the Spine Lift this time back to the floor where his room is.

Steve's thinking idly as he walks down the hallway about checking in on the Daughters of Liberty, see if they have anything going on he can help with, but as soon as he opens the door to his room he pulls up short and stares.

Tony's sitting on the edge of the bed, Steve's tablet gripped in his hands, head bowed over the screen.

Steve stops still, guilt welling up in his throat as his door shuts behind him, realization settling in. The tablet was still set to alert the user that something was happening at AI Tony's jail cell. Steve swallows uneasily, hating the tense line of Tony's hunched, miserable shoulders. How much did Tony hear?

"I saw and heard your whole conversation," Tony whispers, continuing to stare at the screen, answering the question before Steve can ask it. Tony's eyes look a little red. Steve mentally replays the whole conversation, trying to think what might have hurt Tony the most. Probably Steve himself, going to pick his brain, trying to figure out Tony without asking him directly.

It's difficult when there's another persistent fact yelling at him in the back of his mind like a splinter working its way under a fingernail. That's the part he needs to deal with first.

"Is it true?" Steve asks, in a quiet voice. "That when you were inverted—"

"I never would have told you." Tony shakes his head. "I _never_ would have told you." He lifts up his head and he looks _miserable_. He looks even more haunted by shadows than he had been when Steve found him in that damn cube. "What's the fucking point? All we feel about that time is guilt. It was an unwinnable scenario. Extra guilt does no one any good at all."

"I'm sorry I went to see him," Steve says, meeting Tony's haunted gaze and holding it. "It just bugs me that he's here. I feel like he's planning something. I was trying to—I thought I could bank on our history to try and get him to spill something useful, but—"

"It's okay. It's good that you tried. It was a good thought." Tony tries to smile, but it's weak, like he knows it wasn't Steve's entire reason for going.

Steve would tell Tony, except he can't put it into words. "How did your medical appointment go?"

"The Doc gave me the all-clear for now. I've got some physical therapy scheduled and some counseling. All the things to make me a real boy again." Tony pulls a face. "Except, wow, that kind of makes me sound like Pinocchio, and if anyone's the puppet who wished to be a real boy, it's _him_."

Steve exhales and leans against his desk. "He says he's an exact copy but I don't believe it. It's like…now I know it wasn't you, I can't unsee it. It's like...there's something missing in him. Right in the core of his personality, just...a gap."

"He does have something missing," Tony says. His gaze slips back to the tablet. "He blocked something in me that I consider...probably one of the most important parts of me."

Steve's heart hurts, because he's been replaying Tony's conversation with AI Tony about why he was dating Jan constantly in his head since it happened, and AI Tony had intimated Tony still had painful feelings for Pepper. There's a bitter tang in the back of his throat when he thinks about that. Steve steps forward quietly, trying to make his intentions obvious, and when Tony doesn't protest, Steve gingerly sits down next to Tony at the end of the bed.

"This is a fucking mess," Tony whispers, and rests his head on Steve's shoulder.

Steve's breath hitches, just for a second, and all of the unsettled feelings roiling around in his body still. Tony's head on his shoulder is a steady weight, a reassuring warmth, and Steve wants to gather him in closer. He doesn't know whether that sort of comfort would be welcome. He's opening his mouth to ask when the tablet chirps, and then they both look down at it, Tony lifting up from Steve's shoulder to do so, and Steve almost makes a noise of disappointment that he manages to swallow back.

The sight on the tablet in front of him helps do that.

Someone else approaches the cell and AI Tony rises to his feet smiling and… it's Jan.

Jan's come back to visit AI Tony.

Steve's gaze shoots to Tony's profile, trying to see how this is affecting him. Tony's fingers grip the tablet a little more tightly and his mouth presses together into a tight line, and he's obviously struggling to make his breathing sound regular because it hitches in a way that lets Steve know Tony's pretending.

Tony's fingers shake and then hit the mute icon so they can't hear what they're saying, but his eyes remain locked on the scene. AI Tony seems to be sweet-talking Jan. This is probably going to be a problem, Steve thinks, seeing Jan visibly soften onscreen.

"You never _did_ like it when I dated her," Tony says.

"Because you were lying to her," Steve says, but does that reason sound tired, or is he just letting AI Tony get to him? "She didn't know you were Iron Man."

"And you were right to bring me up on that, because she dumped me when she found out," Tony sighs. "I felt awful about that. During and afterward, to be honest. I feel awful that she's gotten tangled up in this. I hope she forgives me." He glances up at Steve. "How did they seem to you, when they were dating?" His voice thins. "Did he treat her right?"

Steve swallows. "I don't know," he admits. "I was busy, I guess. I knew it had been going on for a couple of months, but—I guess they kept it to New York. It's Jan, though, I can't imagine she would stand for being treated badly. Not for long."

"You're right," Tony tries to smile briefly, but it fades quicker than he means it to. "She has a way of talking to you that makes you feel like you're the center of the universe."

Steve feels a little winded. AI Tony had been dating Jan, so that probably means Tony would, given a little time, make the same decision. Maybe. "Do you want me to get her to leave?"

"No. It's fine. Janet van Dyne can do whatever she wants." Tony makes a sharp noise of exhalation and then determinedly turns the screen off. Jan's image disappears in a blur. "If she wants to talk to a cut-price version of me, that's her loss."

"That's the spirit," Steve says, gamely, but his voice falls flat in the small space between them. He reaches out awkwardly, working on instinct, and he finds Tony's hand. He gently lays his hand down, fingers curling over Tony's, the barest hint of warmth in the touch anchoring him to this moment.

"Why did you really go and see him?" Tony asks. He's staring down at Steve's hand on his own. Eye contact would be too much right now for both of them, Steve thinks.

Steve considers lying, but what's the point? He feels raw and on edge. "I went to see him because I'm still finding it hard to let you out of my sight," he admits. "I know it's stupid, but I feel like if I lose sight of you that someone else is going to take you from right under my nose. Again. I know it's dumb."

"It's not dumb," Tony says, and cautiously turns his hand upside down, carefully interlacing their fingers. Steve grips tighter, grateful for it in a way he can't elucidate. "It's understandable, I think. It's why I've been...so weird at night."

Steve wouldn't call it weird, the way Tony curls into him and holds on tight. Necessary might be his preferred term of choice. "You think I'm going to disappear?"

Tony huffs, shakes his head. "I'm scared that when I wake up, I'm going to be alone again, in that cage."

"It's just so...messed up."

"Yep."

"But we're going to get through this," Steve says. He doesn't know which of them he's really saying that to. Maybe it's both of them. "We've been through worse."

"I suppose so." Tony exhales roughly. "I still don't think I would have dated Jan, even after my coma. I know near-death experiences can mess you up, but...I had my chance with her. And I messed it up. And I—I was always in denial to who I really wanted, anyway." Tony does look up from their joined hands then, his eyes flickering over Steve's face nervously.

Steve, feeling hot and fidgety, understands. Tony's always had to push away his thing for Pepper Potts. "I guess this is an opportunity, then," Steve says, slowly. "Maybe you can try for real, go for who you _do_ want." He purses his lips, because he's reluctant to say it, but this isn't about his feelings right now. Tony's the important one. "We'll get you fighting fit and back on your feet, and then I'll help you woo Pepper back. I'm sure you can do it."

"Pepper," Tony repeats, and his expression does something weird. Probably worrying about how difficult a task that might be, and how intimidating something like that must feel after so long of pushing it away. "Sure. It's a plan. Let's do that."

"And until then, let's focus on the fighting fit part," Steve says. "Did the doc's recommendation for physical therapy come with any recommended exercises to start off with?"

Tony groans but pushes himself to his feet, untangling his hand from Steve's in the process. "How did I know you'd say something like that?"

"I guess I'm predictable," Steve says. He thinks it's true, but maybe not as true as it should be. Because if he was entirely predictable, his heart wouldn't be pounding as weirdly fast as it is right now. He looks over at Tony, grateful all over again.

Sure, he nearly lost Tony, but he found him. At just the right time, he found him. Steve got to be the one to find him, to rescue him from that cage.

It's all going to be just fine.

He repeats that to himself over and over, as he helps Tony do the light lifting regime the doctor recommended, and oversees Tony's food for the rest of the day, and helps do some heavy lifting as Tony puts in more time security sweeping the lab that AI Tony used while he was here.

_It's all going to be just fine._

He repeats it to himself as they get ready for bed, already settling into a weirdly nice domestic routine. Tony curls up into his chest again and Steve goes to sleep so quickly, just from the knowledge Tony is fine, close and alive and _there._

* * *

Everything being just fine as a concept completely flees his mind when Steve wakes up to an empty bed, and no Tony in sight.

Steve gets up in a panic, hurtling to the security panel on the wall, hoarsely croaking for Tony's whereabouts, but the only Tony on file is the wrong Tony. The one in the cells. Steve's fingers tremble as he searches for the camera feed and sees AI Tony still sitting in his cell, cross-legged on the floor and reading something, and then he manually searches through all the camera feeds.

He's not thinking right, because it's then that he lifts his gaze to his desk, and the Iron Man armor is gone too.

Which means one thing.

Tony could be anywhere.

Absolutely anywhere.

As Steve flees his room in a panic, he nearly runs directly into Thor, who's busy sneaking out of Jennifer's bedroom, like they even have to be stealthy about it. Thor steadies him, starts to make a joking comment about Steve having double the eyes and half the eye-sight—and falters when he sees the abject terror on Steve's face.

Thor quietens after Steve blurts out that Tony's missing, before he takes hold of Steve's shoulders and walks with him up to the control room. It's empty for the moment, because the processing power of the Celestial systems are so epic that the early-warning system Broo programmed into them doesn't need constant supervision. It's still early. Steve hurries to the main console and brings up Tony's main profile, punching in the command to search the satellite system for any sight of him.

"I am sure there's nothing to fear," Thor says. "Anthony Stark can take care of himself. Your worry is understandable, but I'm sure he'll keep himself safe."

Steve glares at Thor, wondering if they're talking about the same Tony Stark. "Shouldn't you be off dealing with your kingdom?" He wants to swallow back the anger the moment it leaves his mouth, because it's not Thor's fault that Tony's gone or that Steve is panicking about it.

Thor's mouth twitches at one side. "I might be King, but I was your friend first, and that's a bond nothing can break." His eyes flicker up to the picture of Tony on the screen, and a profile shot of Iron Man beside him. "Bend, perhaps. But not break."

"I'm still—I'm worried." Steve sighs, sinking against the console as he taps in more commands. "I can't see anything from the external cameras, but his armor is gone, and the sensors can't find him here, so either the AI has done something hinky, or—"

"Or our friend Stark has exited our base through some other means," Thor says.

They look at each other for a brief second, both coming to the same answer at the same time. Steve sighs and starts running for the Global Teleporter. Thor keeps easy pace, loping behind him. Steve rounds the console and desperately opens the logs. He feels like he can finally breathe when he can see Tony's name in the register. Of course. Of _course_. Tony would easily figure out how to use something like this.

Steve brings up the destination coordinates and taps on them for further information. Thor peers over his shoulder as the answer comes up. Greece. Mount Olympus.

Thor frowns. "What is on Mount Olympus that would interest him?"

"Olympia," Steve says, his voice thick. This is his fault. He'd promised Tony they would look into it, and apparently, he's taken too long to do so. "He's gone to bury the Eternals."

Thor looks pained. "Quickly, change into your uniform, then we will leave."

Steve nods. Then hesitates. "We?"

"I will come with you," Thor says, then explains. "Thena of the Eternals was a great ally of mine. I would see that her body has been treated with the respect a warrior of her caliber deserves." He hesitates. "With the respect a _friend_ of her caliber deserves."

Steve's throat feels thick. "Five minutes, then we go," he says. He hopes Tony is there when they get there because if he's not, Steve doesn't know what he's going to do.


	6. Chapter 6

Steve and Thor find Tony standing outside a large ornate doorway not far away from the co-ordinates Tony had programmed into the Global Teleporter.

Tony's wearing the Mark 42 with the faceplate up and he's just staring up at the doors with a frozen, blank expression. Steve walks forward cautiously but not quietly. He doesn't want to spook Tony, but he knows sneaking up on him might get him a repulsor blast to the face. Well, to the shield—Steve's reflexes are excellent.

Tony doesn't say hello, or apologize for leaving without a note. Steve draws up alongside Tony, while Thor silently moves to stand at Tony's other side, and for a long moment of silence, they stay right there, bookends to Tony's vigil.

"You know," Tony says, after a long minute, just like they're having an absolutely normal conversation, "for a while, Olympia was in Antarctica."

"It's a good thing they moved back here, then," Steve says, as evenly as he can, even though it feels like Tony will be able to feel the trembling in his words. He's still thrumming with worry, even though they've found Tony now.

Tony frowns. "How so?"

"Roxxon have sort of...stolen Antarctica," Steve says.

Tony turns then with a questioning expression. "Why?"

"Well, there were a lot of Frost Giant things happening at the time, and—I guess maybe they wanted to copy us, or—" Steve squints. "Maybe they thought Olympia was still there?"

"I had to come and see," Tony says. "I couldn't—I couldn't stand the idea that the other me had maybe been here and just—just _left_ them."

Steve's throat hurts a little. Tony said his constant nightmare over the last few days has been him waking in his cage, still abandoned. It stands to reason thinking about the Eternals being abandoned would be an extension of that panic.

"We can check," Thor says. "And even if they have been laid to rest in a befitting manner, I still would like to hold vigil with you."

"I would have made sure to tell you that Thena was dead," Tony says, turning his gaze just to Thor. "I don't know why the other me didn't."

Steve wonders if it's got anything to do with the feelings for Pepper that AI Tony had deleted. Maybe some of AI Tony's compassion got eroded too. Or maybe there's something here too dangerous, that would have risked his deception being discovered. Or maybe it's something else, some reason he can't fathom. Either way, he feels terrible that he didn't investigate further what had happened to the Eternals. He'd promised Tony he would and hadn't thought about it since.

"Well, I guess we can't just stand out here forever," Tony says, and glances back at the doors.

The doors open easily at Thor's touch, and Steve finds himself holding his breath. Tony's rambled a lot of scientific theories at him over the past decade, and Steve's read up on them as best as he can, which is the only thing you can do when your best friend thinks _science_ is a language. There's a theory explaining superposition that Tony is fond of, _Schrodinger's Cat_ , about a cat trapped in a box with a small amount of a radioactive element. If one atom decays, the box will release a poisonous gas that will kill the cat. Until you open the box, because you can't tell the outcome without looking, the cat is both dead and alive until the observation is made.

Those doors are _Schrodinger's_ _Doorway_. The Eternals are both dead and alive until the door opens wide enough. They're both lying on the floor discarded and they've been interred respectfully.

Steve can see why not opening the door at all would be tempting. If T'Challa had never suggested the Uni-Mind, and triggered AI Tony's protective hidden programming, perhaps AI Tony would have continued to think of himself as _Schrodinger's Tony._ Himself and not himself.

Thor finishes opening the door, and the box is open.

AI Tony hadn't returned to bury the bodies.

Steve's vision blurs, but just for a second, that's all he allows himself. Tony needs them both to be strong for this. Tony isn't crying. It's not to say that Tony doesn't cry, or that Steve doesn't, but usually they both save it for when the weather is miserable. _Schrodinger's Tears_ : is the superhero crying or is it just raining?

The Eternals are lying all over the damn place, covered in their own blood. Thor and Tony are quiet as they walk along with Steve into Olympia. Thor closes the door behind him solemnly. None of them know what to say. This place used to be so full of life and now it's just a tomb.

Steve counts the dead as they start to move through the mountain, noting where the bodies have fallen. They move swiftly, footsteps ringing awkwardly as they cross a large, echoing walkway towards the main part of the Eternals' city.

All three of them stop almost in unison as they draw up to the steps leading to the largest of the buildings.

"Old friends," Thor says, his voice cracking halfway through.

Sersi and Thena are lying on the ground, close together. If Steve squints, he can pretend they're just having a nap. The Eternals loved to party, some might say they lived for it, so maybe Ikaris ordered too much food, and they all needed a little afternoon siesta to sleep it off. Maybe that's all it is. Steve's face feels hot and he tries to swallow back his denial.

"They were supposed to be immortal," Tony whispers, staring at Sersi and Thena with a stricken expression. "The only way for an Eternal to die should have been for their atoms to be dispersed across a galaxy, turned to cosmic dust and split apart so the cells couldn't drift back together. Not this. Not _this_."

Steve feels queasy. He knows scars and wounds and defensive marks. He knows how to assemble the puzzle pieces together into a full picture of the battle that inflicted them. Just from how the bodies lie and how their blood decorates their pallid skin, Steve can reconstruct in his mind how it happened. How desperate their blows will have been. How they went at each other like animals, out of their mind with a berserk rage. Mindless, but with centuries of experience melted in with it at the same time.

None of the Eternals died a calm death and their bodies have been lying here for weeks.

Steve can't help it, he's just too twisted up with the horror and grief of this scenario, that he can't hold back the question he wants answered most. "If the AI is a nearly exact copy of you, then why didn't he—why didn't he ask us to deal with this? You would have."

Tony makes a small, stricken sort of noise, and Steve feels terrible that he asked, and he's already flinching backward in apology, but Tony shakes his head. "It's a good question," Tony says, and he looks at Steve with a shrug. "It sounds like there wasn't time when the discovery happened. And maybe—well, you remember how powerful Sersi is." His face tightens. "How powerful she was," he amends. "Who knows how much of that power lingers in her body."

"So what would you have done?"

"In the AI's place? Probably added in a subroutine to avoid anyone too powerful, as much as possible, I suppose." Tony pulls a face. "Wiping his own memory of doing it… Planting in the code that he was real… It's… I suppose it's what I might have done if I thought I'd be deleted otherwise. We can't guarantee we saw him realize the first time he's known he's not me, though. He could have realized and covered it up again at any time."

"I haven't experienced much sense of deceit from him, in the time since he joined our forces," Thor says, eventually managing to tear his gaze from Thena's body. "I believe I would have sensed an obvious attempt to deceive."

"If he did remember, if something else triggered him...he'd have just wiped that moment of remembering," Tony sighs. "We can only hope it hasn't happened too much, because there could be contingencies to keep him safe _everywhere_."

"He already has the Uni-Mind to protect him, would he need anything else?" Steve catches glimpse of Ikaris' body in the distance and has to bite his tongue so he doesn't gag. If the Avengers had been treated like this, their bodies left lying when there was a friend left who could have buried them respectfully… He can't hold the idea in his head without feeling nauseated.

"That power is more than leverage enough to bargain with," Thor says.

"I keep thinking about what I would have done in his place, and I'm terrified all over again," Tony sighs. He exhales as he stares sadly down at Thena and Sersi.

The Eternals deserved so much more than this. Steve hadn't been too close to them, not like Tony and Thor, but he had been close enough. He should have followed up on Tony's report about discovering this massacre in the first place and he didn't. One more thing to regret, Steve thinks sadly.

* * *

Tony seems to know where he's going, so they let him take the lead. The large building that Tony seems to be heading for looks like it's located roughly in the heart of Olympia. Olympia is a large city for just a hundred people to live in, but Steve supposes having lots of room to let you escape from people you literally had eternity to be stuck there with was probably a good idea.

The first room once they enter that large building seems to be a large assembly chamber, benches set out in a circle, enough seating for all the Eternals to attend at once. Tony passes the benches and moves through into a room beyond it that has a large white table in the corner of the room and what might be a large computer screen. Tony touches the tabletop and a keyboard of sorts lights up over the desk. Tony lowers his faceplate and a moment later, he taps something onto the keyboard, and the screen lights up with a map.

"There," Tony says, tapping on the outline of a different building, down and to the left from the one they're in. "That one."

The building Tony discovers is maybe the lowest building in the whole of Olympia, an almost blank-looking building built out of what looks a lot like white marble, surrounded by plain pillars. When they enter the room, it lights up and Steve's breath catches in his throat.

It's a long, thin chamber that runs back a long distance and lining the walls are stand-up chambers. They look like cryogenic chambers. When Steve voices that, Tony nods. After figuring out how they work, Tony shows Steve and Thor how to open and operate them, and then they split up to get this task done as fast as they can.

Tony's hands are shaking as he settles Thena into her chamber, the last of the Eternals to be laid to rest. There are still a few empty chambers that Steve doesn't want to think about, Eternals who died even when it was supposed to be impossible, or Sprite who made one ill-advised wish and paid the price. The pods will hold them like this for a million years, Tony says, and none of them try to think about the end of those million years, but Steve can't help thinking of the dead Celestial they're now living in.

Maybe one day the sun will finally get to shine on the Eternals, one last time.

Tony stands for a long time, his palm resting on the last chamber's window. Underneath the glass, Thena just looks like she's asleep. Thor draws up alongside Tony and the two of them stand guard over her body for a long time.

"We did Avenge them," Thor says. "We made their enemies rue the day they were born."

Tony nods without looking away from Thena's peaceful, frozen face. "Good," he says.

Steve swallows hard and crosses over to the pod with Sersi in. He doesn't know what to say. "I'm sorry," he settles on, even though it feels horribly inadequate. He wonders for a moment what it would have been like to find Tony in his cage but much too late. Or if someone hadn't followed the instructions AI Tony had left, if they'd realized they could leave Tony to starve because the person that employed them didn't remember he'd done it. If they hadn't continued to make those weekly food deliveries, or the people doing it had perished in the War of the Realms… Maybe Steve would have found Tony's corpse in that cage.

Tony and Thor seem to take his sudden expression of sheer horror as grief over the death of an old friend, and they both usher him away quickly. They leave the building together and Steve thinks _tomb_ again, with a shuddering breath. Tony closes the door on the room holding the Eternals and it shuts with a too-final click that Steve feels like he'll hear in his nightmares for a long time. Tony walks away stiffly, without looking back, and Steve follows.

"We can't leave yet," Tony says. He's frowning deeply, worried about something. "We can't leave this place as it is. Anyone could find it and misuse it."

Steve and Thor share a look that clearly shows they both understand Tony's real meaning. AI Tony could find it and use it.

"Can we lock it down?" Steve asks.

"I think so," Tony says. "There's a few programs I can put into place back in the main hall. The problem is the Chambers of Power. It's where the engines are housed. The city and the cryo-chambers can run off the geothermal backups, but there's just too much power in the main engines. It's the heart of their technology." Tony shudders a little, like he's been hit in a skirmish and it's not a painful blow but it is one he wasn't expecting. "We can't risk it falling into the hands of someone who would abuse it. But—I—I don't think I can do it." He looks at Thor, earnestly. "Do you think you could?"

Thor somberly nods. "I believe I can."

"It's the building up there," Tony says, pointing.

"Leave it to me," Thor says. "I will meet you at the front doors when my task is done. Then we will cover the doorways together, to block those who would mean them harm."

"Thank you," Tony says. Thor nods and turns, leaping away toward the building Tony indicated. "This way," Tony says, after a moment, turning back and heading towards the first building they'd entered.

* * *

Tony's silent as they return to the room with the computer, and silent as he taps in some commands to the large screen before shutting that down, and silent as they walk back out the building. That finally changes when Tony leads them up a different flight of stairs. Steve doesn't understand why they're not just retracing their original steps until he does; this way will take them back to the doors, but it leads to a raised walkway that will give a good view of the city. One last goodbye to the Eternals.

"I wish I could just lock those engines away," Tony sighs, finally finding his voice as they near the top of the steps. Tony could easily have jet up the stairs, but he's reluctant to hurry up their exit. "I don't want to have Thor destroy it. But we have to."

"It does kind of feel like we're tearing apart the Mona Lisa," Steve offers.

"Yeah," Tony says, wide-eyed that Steve gets it.

Steve and Tony take their time walking along the raised walkway. To their left is the jagged wall of the inner mountain, gently curving upwards to a great height. To their right is just a thick wall of what looks like glass but could be anything, with the technology the Eternals had. The view is incredible, something Tony obviously thinks too, because he slows to a stop and turns to stare out at it.

Steve stops where he is, a few paces away, and follows Tony's gaze out to the beautiful, empty city. The spires and buildings stretch up to the darkness, the ancient mountain expertly hollowed out to home the Eternals. This is what an actual mountain base should look like, not their badly-named version. He can see the Chambers of Power clearly from here, probably why Tony's chosen this part of the walkway to stop at, and there's lightning crackling out the windows of it. Thor's getting to work, then.

"So are we done for now?" Steve asks. He keeps his voice as gentle as possible but it still echoes. That's always how the Eternals felt to Steve in the first place, larger than life. "Can we go home?"

"Yeah," Tony says, and then, "But no." He looks up at Steve apologetically and then his gaze slides back to the Chambers of Power. "There's still one more thing to do."

"Which is?"

"I have to let Joey Eliot know his mother's dead," Tony says, and then rubs his forehead. "Shit, and the Ritter twins. I guess they should know their biological mother's dead. We'll need to check where they are now. Probably best I do it in person."

Steve's heart leaps. "This isn't—" _Your responsibility,_ he swallows back, because that's part and parcel of being an Avenger. Doing things because there's no one else. Even so, it doesn't mean Tony has to do it alone. "The world doesn't always have to be on your shoulders," he says, instead. "You don't have to bear the weight of everything that goes wrong."

Tony pins him with a dry look. "Ha, it's like you don't know me at all."

The words lodge uncomfortably into Steve's brain. "Well," he says, uncomfortably, "I guess I was just too relieved you were okay to look the miracle too hard in the mouth—"

Tony looks stricken. "I didn't mean—" he starts. "I didn't mean to guilt trip you, I just meant—Steve, it's not—It's just—you _do_ know me. I didn't mean it like that."

"I know. But you should have meant it." Steve's fingertips dig into his own palms and he's suddenly heavily aware of his own heartbeat and breathing. He stares at the ground, hating everything. "I should have noticed."

"You probably didn't stand a chance."

Steve glances up, hurt. "Tony—"

"You gotta realize he's me. In every other way that might count, he's exactly me. You know what I'm like when I'm cornered by a situation."

"Still, I—"

"If it were me," Tony interrupts, "before I wiped my memory of being an AI, I would have put instructions in place. There won't have been room for much, maybe a subroutine or two. But I could have fit in enough code so I could surreptitiously sabotage any chance of the original me being found. I'd have found some way to piss you off just enough that you didn't want to stick around me long enough to figure out I wasn't quite right."

Steve wants to say Tony's wrong, but the more he thinks about it, the more he feels like the temperature in the room is plunging. "He kept trying to get me to go to war with Namor. And he kept hitting on Carol, blatant sexual harassment. And he promised that I would meet your brother and then never did, maybe because he's clever and might figure out he wasn't the _right_ Tony?"

"Yeah," Tony says. "See. Exactly. You were being sabotaged, by a very good copy of me. There's nothing to be sorry for. Can we—can we just be grateful you found me? Because I am." Tony crosses the room and leans against the window, staring down at Olympia's beautiful architecture. "I dreamed every single day that you'd come to find me, and then you _did._ " He turns his face back so he's looking directly at Steve. "You've always been my hero."

Steve swallows, his mouth dry. "Even so," he says, struggling to speak over the lump in his throat that formed the second Tony looked at him like that, like Steve actually could be the sun that Tony revolved around, because that's too much to take. "Tony, I should have—"

"Should, _shmould_ ," Tony interrupts, turning fully around so his whole body is facing Steve, not just his face. "These things happen. We're not new to the doppelganger dance. It's not a new thing to experience a copy of someone who knows us so well that they can _use_ our weaknesses." Tony folds his arms and leans back against the window.

Steve eyes the window nervously, worried that it might break under Tony's weight. Of course it holds, the Eternals weren't exactly amateur architects. They were geniuses. _And even they tore each other apart._ Steve's thoughts are a hurricane repeatedly impacting the inside walls of his skull and he hopes his bones can hold them in tight. "I suppose you're right."

Tony's smirk is pure classic Tony Stark. "When am I not?" He twists again, still leaning against the window, and his gaze roams over the Eternals' empty home. _Tomb_ , Steve's brain whispers. "He did that too, y'know."

"He?" Steve repeats, but in a whisper, because he thinks he already knows.

"The Supreme Leader," Tony says, his eyes continuing to scan the horizon listlessly. "Or as Clint was calling him in his reports, Hydra Cap." Steve can see some of Tony's expression in the reflection of the glass. A splintered smile, laced with bitterness. "He was a master of his game. Got me with the sharpest case of gaslighting I've experienced in a while. So believe me when I say, I know what it's like to have someone with a face you trust use your emotional weakness against you."

Steve stills, guilt fogging up his thoughts. He feels like he can taste ash on the back of his tongue. He wonders if it's what remains of Vegas, a crummy stain on the landscape, a blotch which hides thousands of corpses, crushed in the name of Hydra.

"I'm sorry," Steve manages to say, after a too-long pause.

"You have nothing to apologize for." Tony straightens away from the window and turns around again to face Steve. His expression is somewhat blank and controlled. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I didn't notice either. Too concerned with my own war to notice my best friend had been switched for his evil twin. I'm the one who should be sorry."

Steve blanches because this is wrong, he doesn't deserve an apology, Tony is the one who deserves it. Tony's eyes are locked on his and it's hard to breathe. "I—can't—" Steve swallows, and tries again, and then gets distracted, his brain catching on something Tony said a moment before. "Wait, what weakness did he even use on you?"

A burst of humorless laughter comes out of Tony's mouth and he covers up his mouth with both gauntlets for a moment. He looks startled. He lowers his hands awkwardly after that. "I can't believe you're so _you_ that you can't even think of how you might manipulate me."

Steve stares at the floor for a moment so he can focus on the theoretical idea of it. Tony's face makes it too difficult for him to think straight. What would he do, if he had to hurt Tony? How could he maximize the fallout with a minimal strike?

"You," Tony interrupts, cutting through Steve's thoughts.

Steve's gaze startles back up to meet Tony's. Tony's smiling now, a slight ghost of a smile. A smudge of a smile really. Maybe it's not even a smile. Maybe it's just Tony's beard twitching. "What?" Steve blurts, confused.

Tony shrugs helplessly. "You're always my weakness."

Steve stares back. He doesn't know which of them steps forward first, or maybe it's both of them. He feels like a magnet, drawn inexorably closer to Tony's opposing pole pull. They've always pulled each other into their own orbits. Steve knows he should look away, but he can't. He thinks for a random, desperate second, about Tony accusing the AI of blocking something, allowing AI Tony to move on to someone else, and for one crystal-clear moment, Steve thinks, _I wish it was me._

Tony's quiet, his expression both self-loathing and desperate, and Steve's throat stings with the idea of it. It's a stupid thought, he should never have allowed himself to think it, but now he has, it's like a virus.

 _I can remember how pushy you were when I was dating her back then,_ AI Tony taunted him, _You were furious. More furious than a well-meaning teammate should be._

Steve hadn't just been angry that Tony had been lying to Jan, all those years ago. That had been _part_ of the reason for Steve's rage. Steve had been horrified that Tony would so easily lie to someone he was dating, sure. But the strength of his jealousy… It hadn't been just moral righteousness.

Steve hesitates, but then he takes a deliberate, knowing step further forward, his gaze still trained on Tony's face. He moves slowly enough that Tony could back away. This whole moment could still be so easily, plausibly deniable. Tony's expression slides into something desperate, something _yearning,_ and Steve wonders if maybe they're on the same page, finally, after all this time.

"Tony," Steve says, "I—"

"I have finished my task," Thor says, and Steve startles. He can feel blood trying to rush to his cheeks, but he juts his jaw, willing it away. He doesn't want to blush. He doesn't want to look embarrassed. Even if he is at the fact he hadn't noticed Thor approaching them.

"Thank you," Tony says, turning fully to Thor.

"We have done well by our friends. That's all that matters," Thor says. "Shall we proceed?"

"Let's," Tony says, and turns away without looking at Steve.

Steve swallows hard and follows.

Tony does something to a control panel, and Thor uses his lightning to bring down the mountain over the doors, and when they back away, Steve can see shimmers of light breaking through the rubble before fading away.

"If the AI—if _anyone—_ tries to get in, we'll get an alert at our mountain," Tony says, unsteadily.

Steve nods. "Good," he says. "Let's go home."

* * *

Thor goes to make the report to T'Challa about what they've done because Tony wobbles a little on their return to the mountain.

"I'll make him get some rest," Steve promises, as Thor goes. Tony doesn't even protest, letting Steve lead him back to their room. It's weird, that Steve's thinking of it like that now. _Their_ room. It's such an easy thought.

As soon as they enter the room, Tony collapses the armor, and heads over to the bed, sinking down onto it and holding his head in his hands. Steve pauses before joining him. He hangs up his shield, kicks off his boots and swaps his uniform out for a t-shirt and sweatpants before he sits down next to Tony, hesitantly.

Tony lifts his head and, after a brief tensing of his face muscles, he slides closer to Steve, pressing the sides of their bodies together. He looks up at Steve, almost mutinously, and that expression softens when Steve tentatively puts an arm around Tony's back, his hand curling possessively over Tony's hip.

For a long moment, neither of them speak.

"Steve," Tony says, and for a moment, Steve thinks painfully, _this is it, he's going to give me the "you're a good friend, Steve" speech_ , and he keeps quiet, because if this is what Tony needs, that's what Steve wants to give him. He stepped over the line in Olympia, in that weird fraught moment. He let an old fantasy live when it should have died years ago. "What if I'm a copy too?"

That's not what Steve's expecting, and it punches into him worse than a rejection might, and he swallows back an intense rush of horror that he's been so selfish again with his thoughts. Thinking about his own feelings and not Tony's. Of course this is something Tony would worry about.

"You're not a copy," Steve says, firmly.

"How would we know for sure?" Tony shakes his head, his eyes flickering over Steve's face erratically. "Maybe I'm a copy that’s just gonna shatter apart—maybe this isn't real. Maybe I'm just still lying on the floor of that cube and I'm hallucinating all of this."

"How long were you hallucinating for when you were in that cage?" Steve asks.

"Only a couple of times," Tony says. "I thought you were all coming to find me. But it's not the first time, I've hallucinated you before. When I was coming out of my coma, I thought—I thought all of you came for me, and I was so happy, and that's—that's how I knew it wasn't real. And now—you're right here, and I'm—I'm worried again."

Steve's heart pounds a little faster. He can't stop it. He's glad Tony can't hear it, even though Steve can. Tony's words imply he's happy right now. Right here. Right now.

"You're here, you're real, I promise." Steve frames Tony's face with his hands, his left thumb stroking Tony's cheek. "Feel me. I'm right here."

Tony's eyes lock onto Steve's. Tony's mouth is so close. It wouldn't take much to lean forward, to take that last step, to erase that last centimeter and kiss him. Steve's spent more than one cold night thinking about how Tony might kiss.

He shouldn't be thinking about kissing Tony. This is not the time or place. It's just the panic, still thrumming through him, at how close he came to never really seeing Tony, _his_ Tony, ever again. That's probably why the old thoughts of Tony are coming back again, full force. He'd made peace with the idea of never being with Tony years ago. He'd moved on, with Bernie, Rachel, Sharon. Sure, none of those relationships worked out in the long run, but Steve's tried.

He just always keeps coming back to the same place. To the Avengers. To Tony.

"Don't tell me this is just because you feel sorry for me," Tony breathes. "Or that it's just because you feel bad you didn't figure out that it was another one of my AIs going nuts."

"This?" Steve questions, vaguely. He's not sure he can even really recognize his own voice.

"You being so nice to me," Tony says. His eyes loom larger, or closer, Steve can barely tell. "Looking after me."

" _This_ ," Steve says, "is definitely not for any of those reasons you just said." He reaches his hand up slowly, so that Tony can duck away if he needs to, so that his intent isn't ambiguous, and he cups Tony's cheek with it. Tony presses into the warmth and makes a sound Steve can feel through his whole body. "I just can't believe how close I came to losing you."

Steve can feel Tony's breath on his face because he's so close now and he smiles automatically from the sensation, because Tony's here, and Tony's alive, and Steve's almost overwhelmed by how wonderful that is.

"I didn't think you would be this upset about it," Tony says, and he looks at Steve almost shyly. Steve can almost feel the words because of how close he is.

Tony still hasn't pulled away and his gaze drops to Steve's mouth and then up again, color creeping into his cheeks, and Steve's self-control cracks and he's leaning forward to close the gap and kiss him—

The panel on Steve's wall chirps, shattering the moment in two. Steve immediately leaps up, instantly regretting it even as he heads to the panel, pressing it to see what the alert is for. He stares nonplussed at the screen.

"What is it?" Tony asks, instantly alert, already heading over to his armor automatically. Both of them are much too used to having Avengers business interrupt their lives.

"It's a request from T'Challa to meet him in the Assembly room," Steve says, frowning. "Apparently we have some visitors."

"Oh?" Tony presses the mechanism to unfurl the armor from the backpack.

"It's Jan, she's come here with Jocasta and Machine Man," Steve says. He stares across at Tony, suddenly miserable. "T'Challa says they're here to negotiate for AI Tony's release."


	7. Chapter 7

****Tony insists on bringing up the security feed of the assembly room first so that they aren't blindsided any more than they already have been. There's not much debate going on so far, just Jan insisting in a low, firm tone that she, Jocasta, and Aaron are there to demand the release of AI Tony. That it's inhumane to trap him like a common criminal when he hasn't done anything wrong. Steve, thinking painfully of how Tony had looked in that cage, would like to argue that latter point immediately.

The shock of the incident has wiped out the weird tension that had been crackling between Steve and Tony, the energy that had nearly turned into a kiss, and Steve is both sad and relieved all at once. Tony deserves his support, not something selfish like Steve coming onto him in his time of vulnerability and need. Besides, Tony wants Pepper. Steve has to respect that. He has Tony in his life. Tony is safe. It's a miracle and one Steve is going to protect with all his strength for as long as Tony will let him.

This, however, feels like something he can't protect Tony from, and Steve hates that feeling.

"This is absurd," Steve says.

"And it's not even a Thursday," Tony says. Steve shoots him a look and Tony mirrors it. "Were you expecting a non-flippant response? From _me_?"

Steve wrinkles his nose because Tony has a point.

"Before we join in with this circus," Tony says, squinting at the feed of the assembly room contemplatively. "I want to talk to myself."

"Yourself yourself, or _fake_ yourself?"

Tony glances at Steve with an almost fond expression. "The fake one." His gaze drifts to the tablet. "There's something that's been bothering me, and I don't think I can face Jan again until I've figured it out."

* * *

Carol is guarding AI Tony, her arms folded and her expression flint-hard, like maybe AI Tony hasn't been making her experience fun. When she sees Steve and Tony approach, she looks relieved.

" _Please_ say you're here to take over," Carol hisses.

Steve shakes his head and puts a finger to his lips. She frowns and watches as Tony steps past them, arms folded over his chest as he glares at AI Tony.

"Come to poke at the animal with a stick, Tony?" AI Tony says, standing up to face Tony, rolling his shoulders like they're stiff.

"That's somewhat implying you think you're a bear," Tony says. "Considering how much the only _other_ sentient bear I can think of drinks, I don't know I appreciate the comparison."

"Well, some of us aren't as long gone from the wagon as others," AI Tony says, and waggles his eyebrows. Carol makes a disgruntled noise. "So to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, huh?"

"I have a couple of questions," Tony says. "Just about something you said before."

AI Tony pulls a face and spreads his arm. "I'm an open book. Anyone can ask me anything." He glances over at Carol. "Except you, Danvers."

"Whatever, fake Stark."

"So bitter, Carol. Do you feel stupid you didn't realize I was a copy? You had the most obvious clues, after all," AI Tony says.

Carol narrows her eyes. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

AI Tony stares at her. "Did you _actually_ buy that I was okay with you on the same team as me? I bet you bought into that so quickly you got whiplash. Did you really think the real Tony would forgive you so quickly?"

" _Forgive_ me?" Carol bites out, staring at AI Tony with wide eyes. "If anyone should be apologizing—"

"You nearly killed me. If I'd been anyone else, you would have. His reset—" AI Tony gestures at Tony. "A fluke. A one in a billion chance. Based on something he did to himself you had no clue about. You had no idea he'd survive. You went for a killing blow and you _didn't even slightly hold back_."

Carol pales and then her whole body tenses like she's going to attack AI Tony and Steve has to bodily step in front of her, glaring at her.

"Stand down, Danvers," Steve warns, his voice low.

"You're not the boss of us right now, _Rogers_ ," Carol snits back.

"Do you honestly think T'Challa would say anything else?" Steve arches an eyebrow. "Or is your judgment even more impaired than it seems to be right now?"

"This isn't any of your concern," Tony says, and Carol looks hurt until she realizes Tony's glaring at the AI. "Carol did _nothing_ to you. If anything, you should be grateful to her. You were only activated _because_ of what happened."

AI Tony shrugs casually. "I still remember how it felt when she landed that fatal blow."

Carol flinches.

"You were a copy of me a week before that," Tony scoffs. "There's no way you _could_ remember something like that."

"Except I know something you don't," AI Tony says, smiling triumphantly. "I unlocked the 451 protocol."

Steve doesn't know what that means, but the horror on Tony's face is easy to decipher.

Tony frowns deeply at the AI. "But that would have—"

"It did. I remember so much now. Even most of our Civil War," AI Tony says, smiling smugly. "And the worries you had when you programmed in that restriction were valid, it unlocked something in me. I was drunker than you'd _ever_ been. But the trade-off? It was _worth_ it." AI Tony's face splits into a weirder smile, a knife blade smile, and he looks over at Steve, his expression almost combative.

Steve stiffens. The words _it was worth it_ don't mean anything to Tony, but they do to him, and AI Tony somehow knows it.

Thankfully Tony's still too wrapped up in staring in horror that he misses the exchange and Steve is glad. He doesn't want to have to relive that moment with Tony outside his jail cell. Steve can still sometimes taste the bile in his mouth when he angrily demanded Tony tell him if the Civil War had been worth it.

"Unlocking that protocol let me take all the data from every Stark date node, every Stark protocol, every last hidden hard drive." AI Tony shrugs gracefully. "It unlocked every lost memory that happened in view of a camera, and a predictive subroutine easily mapped your emotional states to _my_ brain."

"Why would you even want to do something like that?" Tony asks.

"I'm you but better, so I needed my brain to back that up. I know so many things you've forgotten." AI Tony whistles low and steps closer to the bars, his eyes never leaving Tony's. "It unlocked _so_ many of our memories of the Civil War. Things you have no idea about. The things you did, Tony Stark, in our name."

Tony flinches.

"Don't you want to know the things you did?" AI Tony's head tilts. His eyes still never stray from Tony's. "The things the Red Skull made you do? The things you did on your _own?_ "

"I don't need to know," Tony says, backing up a step.

"To see everyone you ever cared about look at you like you were a complete monster?"

"Shut up."

"To know that everyone thought you'd always _believed_ in the SHRA, and not just your terrible compromise so you could avoid something worse happening?"

"Shut up."

"The way it felt so see Steve's body hit those steps and know it was all your fault?"

"I _said shut up!_ " Tony looks almost startled at his own outburst.

"It should have been you on those courtyard steps, Tony," AI Tony calls out, as Tony turns and stumbles away from his double. "You knew it then and you know it now."

"He said shut up," Steve says, loudly, like some of that exchange isn't making his heart hurt too.

AI Tony's gaze slides to him, almost like he'd forgotten Steve was there. Then his gaze moves past Steve, and that's when Steve realizes Tony's hurrying out of there.

"I'll make sure you get some relief soon," Steve says to Carol quickly, "but first I gotta—"

"Yeah," Carol says, glaring coolly past Steve to AI Tony.

* * *

Steve hurriedly follows Tony. Tony's storming down the hallway, head lowered, and Steve opens his mouth to tell him to slow down and Tony just stops. Steve can't help his flinch, because the last time Tony froze while fleeing down this hallway, everything changed.

Steve hurries to catch up with him fully. Maybe that's what's happening now—everything changing—considering the expression on Tony's face. His eyebrows are furrowed and he's muttering under his breath the way he does when he has a complex calculation to make and seconds to make it in.

After the longest moment, when Tony speaks, it's a question. _"_ You were in a Uni-Mind with him, how did it feel? How did his mind feel to you?"

"Like you," Steve says, uncertainly, feeling bad again. "It felt exactly like I always thought your mind would feel."

"Exactly," Tony says, rubbing his forehead. "So we can assume he wasn't lying when he said he thought he was me."

"I guess."

"He is me," Tony says.

"He's a copy," Steve reminds him.

"Yeah, but he's a copy of _me,_ " Tony says, like he's discovered something amazing. "And sure, he had to add a subroutine or two to keep you off the trail, and there's one bit of himself he said that he did change, but—he must have just added a line of code. A final line of _it's never going to happen,_ a command to move on, that's it. But that...it's not enough to turn me bad. It would take a _lot_ more than that to make me bad. Even when I was inverted, I wasn't...I wasn't _like this._ " Tony turns back and gestures in the direction of the prisons.

"Are you sure? That one line of code isn't enough?"

"Not a line of code to say that some….feelings I have may never be requited." Tony stumbles over the phrasing and can't look Steve in the eye, but then his gaze returns firmly to Steve. "I've been Iron Man for _years_ knowing it was never gonna happen, and I've always been just fine, it's never stopped me from being an Avenger, from trying to do the right thing. Knowing one dumb romantic thing was never going to happen hasn't turned me into a monster any time over the last fifteen years, so why would it now?"

Steve's chest hurts. Pepper Potts doesn't know what she's been missing out on. Steve doesn't understand why she isn't with him, why she hasn't been with him every day from the first second she discovered he liked her.

"Some people go insane when someone they love can't be theirs," Steve says, slowly.

Tony laughs, humorlessly. "Does that seem like me?"

Steve thinks about it. He thinks about Happy and Pepper getting married, and how Tony had been supportive and moved onto other relationships without drama. "It doesn't," he agrees.

"He would have added a small subroutine that would have acted as an additional layer of his subconscious, just enough to divert your suspicions. It couldn't have been anything too much. Just enough to stay away from AIs, or anyone too powerful, and to wind you all up if he felt like you were getting too close. I mean. That's probably what I would have done, I think?" Tony shrugs. "I mean, I probably wouldn't have added the actually invasive line of code to block certain feelings...but that's because the AI lived through things I didn't. Maybe I'd have reached that point if I'd lived through all that Hydra bullshit."

Steve sags automatically. He can't help it.

"Hey, that wasn't your fault," Tony says. "And as the King of Causing Shenanigans That Are Entirely His Fault, I _can_ judge."

"So if he added all that other code, how are you so sure he didn't add codes of wild villainy? He was around for a while without a body. And that 451 protocol stuff sounds…" Steve waves a hand vaguely to encompass what he means because he doesn't want to think about it too much. It's already enough to make his heart hurt. "Potentially terrifying?"

"It's just a filter, designed to go through all the security footage at Stark or SHIELD facilities, and any video caught by public cameras or news footage, and knit it together into as complete a narrative and timeline as possible." Tony wrinkles his nose. "I've watched a lot of the footage personally. There was nothing I uncovered in that mess of missing memories that implies I turned to full-on villainy. I—I did some things I regretted, obviously, but my intentions—they were always—"

Steve watches as Tony falls silent and hangs his head. "You don't have to talk about this now."

Tony lifts his head and flashes him a rueful smile. "We're running out of time. Steve, I copied him from my brainwaves. He's an exact copy. He's me. But ever since the deception was uncovered, he's been acting different. _Mean_. Why would I do that?" Tony glances at Steve. "I'm not a villain, so he shouldn't be one. Unless he completely fucked up his deepest base code, but he had no reason to do that, and it would—it would have shown up in the Uni-Mind. It absolutely would have. You'd have _felt_ it."

"You think...he's pretending to be a bad guy?" Steve stares at Tony, his stomach hurting again as he thinks about it. "He _is_ a villain. He stole your identity, locked you away, half-starved you—"

"Somewhat reasonable, I guess, if he thought he was going to be deleted or discarded." Tony waves his hand. "People get desperate when they think they're going to die. They make dumb decisions. So _why is he acting like_ _an out-and-out_ _villain?_ Why is he using our soft spots to hit hard?"

Steve frowns. "He's manipulating us?"

"Well. That's believable enough," Tony says, frowning sourly. He exhales, his eyebrows knotting, his mouth flattened into a line.

Steve knows that expression. Tony's figured something out and he doesn't like it. "Tony, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking…" Tony looks at Steve with a fearful expression. "I'm thinking that he’s nearly an exact copy of me. I'm thinking that if intended to do us harm, he wouldn't have removed his memories of being an AI. That's what I keep coming back to."

Steve holds his gaze as gently as he can. "So what's your theory?"

"For some reason, he wanted to be me. He wanted to live as me, not knowing he was a copy. I'm still just trying to think it through."

"So think it through with me. Why is he acting like this?"

"He's scared. And when I'm scared, I lash out."

"Why do you do that?"

"Because…it's better to _make_ everyone leave you first than them to make the decision to abandon you? Then it's your fault for being an ass, not…just you being not worth someone's time."

"That's kind of messed up, Tony," Steve says.

"It's logical," Tony defends, then exhales. "Okay, yeah, it's a dumb coping mechanism."

"So...he knows we're going to reject him for being the copy, and wants to make it easier on us?" Steve squints skeptically.

Tony shuffles awkwardly, looks away, and then looks at Steve. "It's what I'd do," he says, and Steve feels like he's been punched in the gut. "I'd know if—if I had the power of the Uni-Mind, but also all the knowledge of Stark technology, all the codes and coordinates for a base like this one, all the secrets we've ever had…that the best thing to do is lock me up forever. Maybe even cryogenic storage."

"So he's being a dick—"

"Because he's me," Tony says, and his face crumples up as he stares at Steve. "He knows he should be hidden away and he wants it to be easier for us to make that decision."

Steve exhales hard. He doesn't want to believe it, but now he's thinking about it...the more terrible sense it makes. Tony's not exactly a stranger to doing something painful in order to save others. "You're sure about this?"

"It's exactly what I'd do," Tony breathes. His eyes are locked directly on Steve's. "Probably." Tony then tears his gaze away to stare down the hallway to where AI Tony's jail cell is. "We could find out for sure."

Steve frowns because Tony's wearing his _I have a great idea_ expression. "How?"

Tony beams. "We need Thor and the Global Teleporter." He pauses for a moment. "And maybe a shovel. We probably should have put some sort of elaborate locking mechanism on the doorway to Olympia and not just a sensor and a massive pile of rocks."

Steve shakes his head in bemusement. "Let's start with Thor."

* * *

Thor easily agrees with Tony's proposal, and while he's off acquiring the items Tony's requested, Tony and Steve finally enter the assembly room.

Steve hovers behind Tony, glaring warily at Jan. She's sitting at one end of the table with Aaron Stack and Jocasta flanking her.

" _Et tu_ , Jo?" Tony asks her, in a quiet voice as they pass them to go sit with T'Challa, Jennifer, and Okoye.

Jocasta's head jerks for a moment in shame before she tilts her chin up and stares at him. "He's one of us, Tony. You'll never understand it."

"I made him," Tony says, regarding her coolly. "But maybe you're right."

"We're here to insist upon the immediate release of the Artificial Intelligence who calls himself Tony Stark," Aaron says. "He is a fully-sentient individual and as a living, breathing, _flesh_ host—"

"Aaron," Jocasta says, in a low tone of warning.

Aaron screws his mouth up.

"We're here to make a deal for his release," Jan says. Her voice is even and strong and her eyes are clear. Steve can see her leg twitching, though. She's nowhere near as cool and calm about this as she's trying to project. "He's human and as such should be afforded the rights of _any_ human."

"We can debate ethics later," T'Challa says. "Now that Tony is here, you said you had a deal."

"It's one dependent on AI Tony's release," Jan says. "I know you don't trust him. I know he's been...aggressive. But you can trust me. I can handle him. And I can prove it."

"How?" Tony asks.

"Pick a number from one to twelve," Jan says. Tony holds up four fingers. "Alpha-Golf-Four-Two-Six-Echo-Lima-Four," Jan reels off, promptly.

Tony stares. That means something to him, apparently. "The kill code," Tony breathes. "He gave you his kill code? He trusts you _that_ much?"

Steve thinks about Tony giving him the armor kill code, all those years ago, and the outright surprise on Tony's face now, and he feels funny.

"I do," Jan says.

"Even though he's been drinking again and hadn't told you?" Tony stares at her. "Rhodey told me he hadn't confided in you about it."

Jan's eyes flash with something; she swallows and her mouth tightens unhappily. "Even if that's the case, the fact he confided in someone is enough for me."

"And according to most reports, he was drunk for most of Hydra's takeover," Tony continues, his expression carefully neutral.

"You don't think I know that?" Jan's mouth downturns sharply. "Tony, I know. I've done my research. I went to see RiRi, Clint, Natasha, anyone who worked with him during that struggle. And they all said the same damn thing. Even _drunk_ he did everything he could to _help_ us. There's not an evil streak of code in him."

"There wasn't. He edited himself a little. We can't know how much."

"Then don't trust him, _fine._ Trust me!" Jan's eyes are blazing with fury. "I'm a founding Avenger and I think by now _I've_ earned the benefit of your doubt. I think I've _earned_ your trust. Whatever he does, you can come after me for it. I won't resist. He's going to be my responsibility. Wow, I knew getting you to listen would be difficult, but I thought I'd at least earned that much!"

"You have," Tony says. "And I promise not to just listen to your proposal, but consider it as thoroughly as I can. But you need to do one thing for me first. And I need you to promise if it goes wrong, then you'll let us do what you know is the safer option."

"Which is?" Jan asks, the words clipped.

"Thor's bringing a cryostasis chamber from Olympia as we speak," Steve says evenly before anyone else can say anything, and then briefly explains the check they want to do. And the conditions for if it fails.

T'Challa, not wearing his mask for once, frowns deeply enough that Steve thinks he would have been able to decipher his expression as a frown even through the mask. "The Cryostasis chamber can run from our Circulator, correct?"

"I'm sure it can," Tony says, nodding.

"Then I approve," T'Challa says. "Ask him your question. And if he answers incorrectly, or acts out, you have my full support to freeze the AI Stark for as long as you deem necessary."

* * *

"I'm going to enjoy watching you freeze," Carol says, yanking AI Tony forward. There are restraints on his wrists that Steve thinks look like Wakandan technology.

"I bet you are," AI Tony says, glowering at her before his gaze flits over to the cryochamber already wired into the wall, where Thor stands by, proud of his handiwork. AI Tony swallows hard. "Eternals tech. Well. I suppose that makes sense."

"AI Stark," T'Challa says, moving to stand opposite AI Tony, his mask back on and his stance square and strong. "We're here because we deemed you too dangerous to be left allowed to roam free."

"Of course," AI Tony says, rolling his eyes petulantly. "I get it. Deep freeze me until you need me."

"You're not going to fight our decision?"

"You think I can fight my way past a full group of Avengers?" AI Tony raises a single eyebrow. "I'm flattered by the compliment, but I couldn't escape before, could I?" AI Tony then glances over to where Jan's standing by the window and he sighs. "Besides, I trust Jan. If she's on board with this...if she thinks I need to be stopped, then I need to be stopped."

"It's a little suspicious that you're not arguing," Tony says, stepping forward to face the AI. He folds his arms and regards the AI coolly.

"I'm dangerous," AI Tony says, shrugging. "I get it. I mean… You know I messed with my baseline code. You don't know _what_ my changes have done to me. So if Jan's right there, letting you do this… Then I have to. If my changes have messed with my moral center, I have to trust hers to be mine for me."

"Fine," Tony says. He nods at Carol. "Put him in."

Carol smirks as she pushes at AI Tony, who holds up his hands.

"I have legs," AI Tony says. "Grew them myself, in point of fact."

Steve watches coolly as AI Tony climbs up into the pod and carefully swings himself into place. Tony and Carol duck down to secure his legs before Carol removes the restraints, and AI Tony calmly lies his arms into the appropriate recesses. Steve swallows back the discomfort at seeing someone so close to Tony's appearance lie in the chamber so docilely.

It's like watching Tony do this to himself and that makes this harder to watch that Steve knew it would be.

Tony leans in close and secures a band across AI Tony's waist. AI Tony's finding it difficult to look at any of them directly. Is Tony right? Steve feels uneasy. He's seen Tony try and make the sacrifice play more times than he'd like. He's always willing to sacrifice himself to save the rest of them. Is that really what's happening now?

"Any last words?" Tony asks, stepping back and straightening, staring AI Tony straight in the eye.

AI Tony reluctantly turns his gaze to Tony's. He pushes his mouth together for a moment and then nods tersely. "Look after Jan for me," he says. "And...think about what I did. Move on. You'll be better for it."

"So you say," Tony mutters.

"Jan is more than either of us deserve," AI Tony continues like Tony didn't interrupt him. "But if I trust anyone to be able to treat her like a princess, well. I still think I make the better Tony Stark, but...I suppose the runner-up is good too."

Tony's eyes soften. "You really love her, don't you?"

"You could too," AI Tony says, and then he drops his voice to a whisper. It's low enough that it should be private, but Steve's enhanced senses can hear it like he's shouting. Or maybe he's just always going to be tuned to the sound of Tony's voice. "Let him go, Tony. Just let him go. You can still be happy. Do you want to know my last advice? That's it."

Steve's been hit by enough large and heavy things that he knows the sensation of having taken a hit. He feels like something big has smacked into his head without him noticing because he has all the symptoms. The floor sways under his feet and he feels light-headed.

Let him go? Let _him_ go?

This isn't the right time to be lingering on something like this, something small, something he's probably misinterpreting, but…he's never let him think much beyond _this is something I feel, and wouldn't it be amazing if…?_

Steve's being stupid. He's being completely stupid. Steve's not the only _him_ in Tony's life. There's no way that AI Tony means Steve. Maybe he means Rhodey, that would make some sense. And Rhodey's dating Carol, meaning he's out of bounds. It could be Thor, that also makes a lot of sense to Steve. Reed's married, but he's the kind of smart that Tony likes. Doom, it could even be Doom, he was rattling around the place in Tony's armor while Tony was in the coma, like maybe an ex-lover might. Or maybe it's T'Challa; they both knew what it was like to be the head of a dynasty.

And yet…what if? _What if?_

This is the second _what if?_ that's shattered his world apart in such a short time. _What if the disheveled Tony I found is the real Tony?_ had been the first. But can he really be so egotistical to think Tony might mean him?

"You want _my_ last advice?" Tony asks his AI.

Steve watches both of them warily, like one of them might slip some sort of a clue into the proceedings.

"Not really," AI Tony says.

"That's what I thought," Tony says, and reaches out to pull the door closed.

AI Tony looks over at Jan, smiles sadly, and then closes his eyes as Tony shuts the door on him.

Tony reaches up to the switch to activate the chamber and then he pauses and nods, firmly, before pulling his hand back and stepping back. AI Tony stays still for a long moment and then one of his eyes opens curiously, followed by both. AI Tony genuinely looks completely baffled.

"Okay, Jan," Tony says. He looks over at her, at the soft joy on her face. "I'm ready to listen to your terms now."

"In a couple of minutes," Steve interrupts sharply. He's aware of Tony looking at him sharply, because he hadn't mentioned this. "There's one other thing I need to do first."

It's a measure of how much everyone trusts him that Steve's able to walk over to the chamber, open it, and undo AI Tony's restraints without anyone even moving.

AI Tony's watching Steve warily the whole time, and he cautiously steps out of the chamber.

Steve rears back and punches AI Tony in the face before anyone can stop him.

There's almost instant bedlam as AI Tony slams back into the chamber hard. Steve gets yanked back by Carol and T'Challa, and Jan runs forward with a cry to AI Tony's side, looking up at Steve in horror.

"Stand down, Rogers," T'Challa hisses.

"That's for not burying our friends, asshole," Steve says, glaring at AI Tony.

AI Tony winces and looks up at Jan guiltily. "I deserved that one." He sags. "I deserved more than that. Like you deserve much more than me, I'm just a copy, a damaged copy at that. You should put me in that thing and throw away the key. It's okay. You can do it. I'm a danger to everyone."

"Why? Because you were drinking again and you're not sure you can trust yourself?" Jan shakes her head and cups his cheek softly. "Until you can trust yourself, trust me. I'm your compass, remember?"

Steve lets Carol pull him back to a safer distance and he grins at Tony, who just shakes his head and smiles fondly at him.

 _You're a lunatic,_ Tony mouths. Steve just grins back at him. If this is lunacy, it feels pretty good.

* * *

Jan takes a deep breath and then looks at Tony.

"The first thing you need to be aware of—and I'm sorry, Tony—it's less of a deal and more of a fait accompli," she says.

Jan nods her head at Jocasta who rises and rounds the table, passing a stack of papers to Jennifer before returning to her seat. Jennifer looks at the papers and curses under her breath before immediately passing out the spares.

"As of this morning, I officially own controlling shares in _Stark Unlimited_ ," Jan says.

Steve immediately clenches his fists under the table and he looks at Tony in instant sympathy. His body is tense so rapidly that it almost hurts. He can't believe Jan would do something like that, to _Tony_ of all people. He eyeballs AI Tony. It's not too late to lock him away, Steve's pretty sure.

Jan squares her shoulders and looks directly at Tony. "As we speak, it's already being folded into my company. I'm sorry, Tony. But I don't think you'll drag me through the courts for this, not with my proposal."

She starts to outline the deal, and Steve watches Tony the whole time, trying to gauge his reaction to the proposal. Jan argues that the AI did work hard in Tony's absence, and the eSCAPE blip aside, he still ended up turning a substantial profit. She argues that AI Tony was a key figure in the fight against the Supreme Leader, too, and that shouldn't go ignored. Steve openly bristles at that.

Jan's proposal is that one Stark department will go to AI Tony: the medical division, because AI Tony did a lot of work with it, and it fits in best with Jan's company. The intellectual property remains Tony's. The money and technology to rebuild his facility have been provided. The armors and technology are all Tony's. Unfortunately, the Long Island facility has to remain with Jan in order to make her own board of directors not veto this hostile takeover, but Jan has sourced land already for a replacement, and she will pay any of Tony's workers a moving fee if they want to follow him there. Jocasta and Aaron will be staying with Jan, of course.

In return for all of this, Jan will get to keep AI Tony, even though he technically is Tony’s creative property, both as a product of Tony’s repro-pod technology and his coding.

None of it is fair, Steve thinks, but he's probably a little biased on that count.

AI Tony stays quiet, holding a pack of frozen peas against his cheek and looking stunned. He's mostly just sitting and staring at Jan. It's weird. Now his act has been blown, he looks subdued and confused. There's no feeling as good as puncturing one of Tony's plans when he thinks he knows best and he's actually being a dumb self-sacrificial idiot, and apparently a little bit of that good feeling translates to a copy of him too.

Steve still regrets that he wasn't able to punch him twice, though. Tony nearly died in that cage. Steve's not going to forget that in a hurry. AI Tony should probably do his best to avoid Steve in the future.

Jan covers some more of the legal jargon that Tony and Jennifer at least seem to understand.

"I have some provisos of my own to start with," Tony says. "There may be more."

"Of course," Jan says.

"Iron Man," Tony says. "He doesn't get Iron Man. He doesn't get to _be_ Iron Man. That's off limits. Permanently. Even if I die. Be a different kind of hero, I don't care, but not _Iron Man_ , and no red-and-gold. I don't want him to be mistaken for me any more than he has to be. He tries to be Iron Man for even one second...remember I know the kill code too. I can make sure he goes down."

Jan inhales sharply and she nods. "That sounds fair enough."

"If we need the Uni-Mind, he provides it. There is no situation where a delay will be acceptable." Tony glares coolly at AI Tony. "Don't pretend you'd be able to leverage that ability for further freedoms or favors. I know you. It would drive you mad to sit by and not help."

"Fine," AI Tony says, and tilts his chin, adjusting the frozen peas and averting his gaze from Steve as best as he can. "But I want the name."

"What?" Jan blurts, but it echoes because she's not the only one.

"Not Iron Man," AI Tony says. "Stark. I want to stay a Stark. RiRi's right. I love being Tony Stark. I _am_ Tony Stark. My brain still screams that that's who I am. Even though I know I'm just your backup copy, I still—I feel like Tony Stark. So that's what I want. And in return, I'll use the Uni-Mind any time you need it."

"You will anyway," Tony says.

"But I'll do it without complaining," AI Tony says. "That has to be worth _something_."

"Then you'll use the Uni-Mind regularly," Tony says. He glares at him coolly. "Every three months, you'll report to T'Challa, and he'll provide the names of six people to go in a Uni-Mind with you. If you don't turn up for those appointments, we'll assume you have something to hide. It's a breach of privacy, but… if you want to be a Stark so badly, that's the price."

"Fine," AI Tony says. "I was going to suggest that anyway. But they all sign NDAs. And Jan gets to veto the names. If she wants to exclude someone, they get excluded."

"And I always get to be one of the names," Jan says.

T'Challa nods. "I agree with this, too." He shoots Tony an amused look. "Thanks for keeping me in the loop with that idea, by-the-way."

Tony wrinkles his nose apologetically at T'Challa, but he turns back to glare at AI Tony. "If you want to be a Stark, you can stay being a Stark. But I'm Tony. You don't get that. Pick another name. Go by Anthony, if you must. But if you're so desperate to be a Stark you'd try and steal someone's life to do it, then fine. The name's all yours." Tony pushes away from the table and stands up. He looks across at Jennifer. "I presume you're okay with me throwing a lot of money at you to verify that paperwork's in order?"

"Hulking out is hard on a girl's wardrobe, presume away," Jennifer says, already half-way through the pile of papers.

Tony nods at Jan tersely. "You better keep an eye on him. Because if he puts a foot out of line, you're the one who we'll come after."

"Understood," Jan says.

"I'll take a look at your deal," Tony says. "And if I don't like it, or it's not strong enough, then I will drag you through the courts."

"I know," Jan says. "But I do hope you'll give it a fair shake. I think this is the best hope we both have for moving on."

Tony nods. "I'll get back to you," he says and pushes away from the table.

Steve's kind of proud of his self-restraint that he's able to hold out for three seconds before asking T'Challa if he can be excused too.

* * *

Steve hears the words, "Are you okay?" leave his mouth before he really thinks it through. It's _always_ a dumb question. Alas, it seems to be his favorite one. "Your company, I mean," Steve stumbles onward, trying to phrase it better. "I mean, it's been in your family for over a century now."

Tony's staring at the whales. This is his favorite view and Steve feels like he knows why. It's such a strange sight and one reserved for the Avengers. Being an Avenger is an honor and it's special, even if it leaves your life open for the weirdest of events.

Like someone stealing your face. Like someone stealing your _name_.

"You seem sure I'm going to take the deal," Tony says.

Steve shrugs. He trusts Jan, maybe more than he should, but he can't shake the feeling that she is trustworthy right to her core. It's probably why he was quite so horrifyingly jealous when Tony and she were dating that first time. _And the second time,_ he finally admits to himself, remembering how it felt to hear Tony and Jan were dating again. That was when he still hadn't known Tony wasn't actually Tony, and so it had hurt like it was.

"Even if you don't, dragging this through the legal system will take...maybe years," Steve says. "Your company won't come out of it the same. It's incredibly unfair. I'm so sorry, Tony."

"I'm probably going to take the deal," Tony admits. "Besides, it's Jan. It's _Jan._ Anyone else…" He shrugs, a whole body shrug that conveys some of the helplessness that Steve feels.

Steve hums briefly in response, trying to give Tony the space to talk if he needs it. He must need it. This entire situation is one twisted nightmare.

"I'm lucky to even be alive," Tony says, instantly and painfully reminding Steve of how much worse this all could have been. "Everything else...I'm going to take one day at a time. Because I'm fortunate enough to have that chance."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Steve offers. "Or I can leave you alone, if you need time alone...I promise I can try and do that. I can skip a couple of hours of my scheduled staring. Maybe more, even, if you need it."

Tony smirks at him for that. "I'm glad you're here," he says.

Steve warms at that, probably more than he should.

"My whole life's been stolen out from under me by my own creation," Tony sighs. "I should probably be proud. I wonder if this is how some parents feel, when their children overtake them."

"Aren’t you upset?" Steve asks, because he thinks he would be upset. He is upset enough on Tony's behalf, and he doesn't have Tony's history with and connection to his company.

Tony looks across at Steve with an expression Steve can only term as soft. "I think I kept what matters the most."

And there's just—there's just something _so brave_ in Tony's expression that makes Steve feel brave too. Even though it might be selfish, he wants to know.

"When the AI thought he was going to be frozen," Steve says, cautiously, "he told you to _let him go_. Who was he talking about?"

Tony's voice is almost winded when he says, quietly, "Surely you must know by now he means you."

Steve wants to laugh, but he thinks maybe Tony might take it the wrong way, and this is really a moment Steve does not want Tony to misconstrue.

"I'm sorry," Tony says, and looks away, "that was much too much to put on you—"

"Tony," Steve says, firmly enough to make Tony look back at him, and then Tony sees Steve's smile and his face does something delightful. "I'm glad. You know I've been—I've been watching you a lot. And when I saw you talk with your AI, and he said _they_...I was in agony."

"Agony?"

Steve nods ruefully. "I thought it must be Pepper."

"You thought it was Pepper?" Tony laughs. "Really?"

" _Really_. And it was agony, because I wanted it to be me so badly."

Tony tenses like he's going to step forward and then he frowns. "This isn't pity, is it? Because you feel sad that this has happened? Because I couldn't bear it if—"

" _Definitely_ not pity," Steve assures him, and closes the gap between them, putting one hand around Tony's neck and thrilling when Tony's gaze dips automatically to Steve's mouth. This is going to be so good, he knows it. His entire skin is already singing, just from this barest of touches. "It's not exactly a new thing for me."

Tony's eyebrows dip. "What—"

Steve stares at him until Tony stares back because he needs to have Tony's full attention for this. "Do you remember when you _were_ dating Jan? And I wasn't exactly supportive about it?"

"Yeah," Tony says. "You were right to be angry at me. I never should have tried to hide my identity from her and date her at the same time."

"It's funny how you still think my lack of support was purely because of some ethical high ground."

"Well, you were right—" Tony starts, and then falters, like he's just processed what Steve has said. "The way you phrased that..."

Steve tilts his chin challengingly. "Yes?"

"It can't be how it sounds." Tony's eyes shoot to Steve's. "That was _years_ ago! What are you trying to say?"

"I think you know what I'm saying," Steve says. He thinks his voice is holding together quite reasonably, considering how he's feeling. "You'd come in from all your dates with Jan, talking about how sweet she was, what a great time you'd had. I don't think you ever realized how jealous I was."

"Of me?" Tony's voice pitches up awkwardly on that second word. Steve shakes his head slightly, enough for Tony to realize. "Of _Jan_?" Tony swallows, visibly unable to tear his gaze away from Steve. "You were jealous of _Jan_?"

Steve thinks about lying. It would be so easy to lie right now, to put this all back in the box, to discuss it later when Tony hasn't had such a shock. But maybe it's too late now. Maybe it's something that shouldn't be hidden at all. There was a truth he always sat on, even all the way back then. A truth he regretted never saying out loud. This is his second chance, and second chances aren't a commodity to be squandered. He could have lost Tony so many times over the last fifteen years, and Tony could have died never knowing this fundamental part of Steve, that he's been clinging onto and hiding for so long. Tony deserves to know just how important he is to Steve. He deserves to know just how loved he is.

"She had what I wanted," Steve says, simply.

"Please say this isn't just you trying to prove AI me wrong," Tony says, his breath obviously stuttering.

"I don't play games when it comes to the truth, Tony. Surely you know that by now."

Tony makes this noise in the back of his throat that Steve feels to the far corners of his soul and then he decimates the last distance between them with a desperate surge forward, and they kiss—and it's fireworks and explosions and _perfection._

Tony's hands are on Steve's cheeks, anchoring them together, close, and Steve wouldn't complain even if he had his mouth free to do so. He realizes he's been waiting for this moment for over fifteen years, even if he never let himself openly admit it, and it lives up to any expectations that might have accumulated in his subconscious throughout everything they've experienced together.

Tony kisses him again, and again, and Steve thinks, dizzily, impossibly, stunned by the realization of it, that _this is it, I'm home. I'm finally home._ He's given a lot of idle thought to how Tony would kiss, but he's never really understood how it would actually feel.

Amazing. It feels absolutely amazing.

Steve feels...well... _invincible_.

"Can I say wow, or is that too much of a cliché?" Tony asks, after they finally break apart. "I'm sorry, I think you melted my brain with your hotness."

"Tony," Steve says, the compliment too raw for how new and wonderful this moment is.

"That's my name, don't wear it out," Tony quips, and Steve has to kiss him again, because Tony's mouth when he's smiling is kind of the best shape in the entire multiverse.

"Once the doctor clears you for vigorous activities," Steve promises, in-between increasingly hungry kisses, "I might wear it out. I'm just warning you in advance."

"Captain _America,_ " Tony sighs. He sounds happy, even as he winks lasciviously at Steve. "Been thinking about it, have we?"

"A lot," Steve says, and apparently his face betrays how much he means it, because Tony swallows and grins.

"I think you're starting to rival my ability to envisage beautiful futures," Tony says, drawing their faces together again.

Steve's heart is pounding. He wants to say _I love you,_ but it's too soon, so he kisses the words against Tony's lips. It has to be too soon. His breath hitches as Tony's pulse leaps under his fingertips encouragingly. Is it too soon, if he's been waiting fifteen years to say it?

Steve nestles closes, resting their foreheads together but keeping his head tilted back enough that he can see Tony's face as he gives into the urge and admits, quietly, "I love you. I have...for so long. I'm sorry I've waited so long to tell you."

It's been fifteen years, but Tony's expression is more than worth the wait.

"That's...good," Tony says.

"It is?"

"Because…me too."

"I know there's two of you," Steve says, deliberately pretending to misunderstand him. "That's what's caused a massive headache for everyone for the past couple of weeks, there being two of you, you don't need to remind me."

"I mean I love you too, you dick," Tony says, pulling away from him just so he can punch Steve lightly in the shoulder. Tony then notices that Steve's smirking at him and he gives up and laughs. "I'm not sure _why_ I love you," Tony mutters in his _I'm lying but you can't prove it_ tone, glaring at Steve and not even doing a half-way decent impression of actually being mad at him.

"I'm not sure either," Steve says, "but I'm glad you do." He squints. "Is that enough to give me a pass for the mocking that I thought it was _Pepper_ you were in love with?"

"Nope," Tony says. "Because ask anyone, I've been _painfully_ obvious with my feelings about you. But I bet you can probably figure out a way or two to distract me from mocking you, if you're very, _very_ creative."

Steve smiles and presses that smile against Tony's mouth carefully, and then not so carefully, and then some more, and again after that. If he looks smug for a long time after that, he doesn't think anyone can blame him.

* * *

It's pretty standard Avengers luck that the day Doctor Nemesis clears Tony for active duty that there is an alert. Another pocket of Dark Elves has been discovered who didn't quite get the memo that the War of the Realms was over. Steve changes his status to active too and suits up next to Tony, unable to stop grinning the entire time. Tony's back in his signature red-and-gold armor, and it's hard for Steve to believe life is going to be anything but _amazing_ when he has Iron Man by his side.

When the Global Teleporter drops them off at the right coordinates, Tony yelps in pleased surprise that Rhodey is there and waiting in his Manticore unit, sitting in the cockpit but with the glass lifted up. Rhodey salutes Tony lazily.

"Well, that's an upgrade from the War Machine," Tony hollers up, scanning an appreciative eye over the massive vehicle.

"Little bit," Rhodey shrugs, faux-casually.

"I wonder if Rhodey would let me ride that sometime," Robbie whispers, staring up at the Manticore with interest.

Rhodey looks down at Robbie contemplatively.

Carol whistles to get Rhodey's attention. "Robbie's a Ghost Rider, babe. Before you go saying yes, make sure you don't have anything openly flammable inside the cockpit."

 _Babe,_ Tony mouths to Rhodey, winking at him outlandishly anyway.

Steve hates to admit it, but they're struggling a little once the fight begins. The Dark Elves have an arsenal of magic at their disposal and keep summoning larger and stranger monsters to join the battle. The hundred-eyed spider, Steve thinks, is probably their biggest mistake, because that's a beast with a _lot_ of obvious soft spots. Still, not all the beasts are so easy, so T'Challa makes a call for backup and the backup that arrives…

Well, it wouldn't be Steve's first choice.

That's sort of a lie, because it's _Jan,_ who wouldn't love fighting with Janet van Dyne? But she's not alone. She has Nadia with her, which is also great, but there's also a _third_ Wasp alongside both of them, and although the third Wasp has their mask down, Steve doesn't need to know their identity.

The armor AI Tony is wearing is yellow with black stripes. He sees Steve looking and flips up the faceplate. AI Tony grins at him before putting the faceplate back down and joining the fight.

"Remind me later, I look terrible in yellow," Tony bitches a few minutes later, helping to airlift Steve away from something with a lot of tentacles.

" _He_ looks terrible in yellow. You look good in everything," Steve says, loyally.

"You do get that we're identical, right?" Tony yells.

"Not where it counts," Steve says, sparing him a brief smile to let Tony know exactly what he means.

He can't see Tony's smile, because his faceplate is still down, but he thinks he can hear it in his voice when Tony says, "Behind you, four o' clock. Aim for the legs."

It's probably not supposed to be an endearing statement, but Steve finds himself smiling like it is anyway.

* * *

The elves finally seem to realize they can't win, reluctantly disappearing off into a portal leaving some of their bizarre hell-creatures behind.

Steve looks up from decapitating what looks like the mutant child offspring of a yeti and the plant from _Little Shop of Horrors_ and straightens, wiping green goo off his face which might be sap or might be blood. If it's anything else, he doesn't want to know.

He looks over to where Carol's punching a large round balloon of a creature, and Steve smirks when she deliberately angles her last hit to send the creature directly at AI Tony. It explodes over him in a disgusting shower of goo. She turns and winks at Steve and he salutes her genius. It must be the last creature, because everyone else is already relaxing, or kicking at the nearest monster corpse to check if it's really dead.

Just ahead from him, Rhodey stops his Manticore and climbs out, looking around triumphantly at the battlefield as he drops to the ground.

"Hey," Rhodey yells, spotting Tony. "Heard you gave some shit away when I wasn't looking."

Steve watches as Tony looks over, lifts his faceplate, and grins sheepishly at Rhodey. "Had some shit stolen from me by an impostor," Tony says, loudly. He doesn't look across at where Jan, Nadia, and AI Tony are gathering, brushing gunk from AI Tony and whispering together. They look a little comfortable and Steve is more pleased by that than he probably should be.

Rhodey leaps over a corpse of something which might have been a monkey, if monkeys were born with stegosaurus-like spines growing out of its back, and throws his arms around Tony. "You better not have included me in the deal."

"No way," Tony says.

Rhodey pulls back from the hug and eyeballs Tony. "I think you're getting your ass back, man."

"Thank goodness," Tony says. "It's kind of my best feature." He pauses and narrows his eyes accusingly. "How can you tell, I'm wearing armor, you dick."

Rhodey just laughs in reply, long and loud.

Steve glances over to where AI Tony has lifted up his faceplate. AI Tony looks sourly at where Rhodey and Tony are still standing together and laughing. Steve beams, pleased. He probably shouldn't enjoy AI Tony's distress so much, considering he is _very_ close to Tony.

AI Tony's not the real one, though, and he doesn't deserve Rhodey. And he doesn't love Steve, like the real one does. Like the real one always has. Steve's cheeks warm pleasantly at that thought. He's never going to be over that.

"Thank you for the assist, Ms. Van Dyne," T'Challa says, his voice clipped and fairly formal. Even his body language speaks volumes about his feelings, because T'Challa drifts closer to Tony as he says it, angling his body almost protectively.

Tony is _theirs_. And it doesn't matter that AI Tony might have mostly good intentions, he kidnapped _their_ Tony and put him at risk. That's going to take a lot of forgiveness. If ever.

"Any time," Jan says. "Nadia, the IronWasp and I will always be available, whenever the Avengers ask."

"IronWasp?" Steve whispers, sidling in closer to Tony.

Tony shrugs. "Y'know, I'm not even mad about it. It's kind of bad-ass." He squints at AI Tony's armor dubiously. "I'm kind of hoping a stinger doesn't come out of the ass part of the armor, though. I feel like I might have thought about that."

"He did, I vetoed it," Jan offers, her voice ringing across stridently.

"Jan," Carol greets, nodding tersely, then she looks over at AI Tony. "Phony. Thanks for the assist, I guess."

" _Phony_?" AI Tony howls.

"Phony! Fake Tony! I came up with it," Robbie says, looking incredibly pleased with himself.

Steve grins. He'd had nearly the same thought too a while ago.

"Kid," Tony mutters, "you ever get tired of driving that hunk of junk with a hell-trunk of yours, I absolutely owe you a new car for that one."

"Sweet," Robbie says, excitedly.

* * *

The bodies of the creatures need gathering up, and surprisingly the Wasp team stays with the Avengers to help with that part, even though Steve's been expecting them to flee as soon as they politely can.

Steve's too far away to intervene when he sees Jan approach Tony, and his heart hurts for that, but he tries to push that anxiety away. Tony's strong enough to handle himself. Tony can take care of himself and Jan—she's not an enemy. She's an old friend. Steve's wary of her right now, wary of the way she gutted Tony's company apart just to get what she wanted, and he hates feeling that way. Time will numb that feeling.

Tony and Jan are standing at an awkward distance. "This is kind of weird," Tony comments lightly, squinting at her.

"I know this is kind of weird," Jan says, her pretty face crushed into an apology. "I wish I was sorrier about it."

Tony steps closer to her, puts his hands on hers smiles sweetly, but Steve thinks it's mostly to make AI Tony bristle. "But you're happy?"

Jan's face softens out and she smiles at him, shy and sweet. "You know what, for the first time in a long time, yeah. I'm truly happy, Tony. Thank you."

Tony's face creases like he's trying to smile, but can't quite manage it. "That's all I've ever wanted for you," he says, and leans in, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek.

AI Tony— _Phony—_ does bristle and it's _beautiful._ Steve smiles at him and AI Tony flinches away, like that really hurts, and Steve's hit with a thought that's probably terrible and mean. He thinks about it for a moment, chewing the thought over in his head. But the way AI Tony's looking at him, now Steve isn't completely oblivious to Tony's feelings… It's exactly the way Tony looks at him, sometimes. It's the way Tony's _always_ looked at him.

Steve wants to be sure, so he sidles closer to Tony. "Your doppelganger. Even though he said he programmed himself to move on," Steve says, slowly, "he still has your memories. He still has those years of _wanting_ me, right?"

"I'd think so," Tony says, looking confused.

Steve grins and pats Tony on the shoulder happily, his knuckles making the Iron Man armor sing a note that sounds to him like sweet victory. "I'll be right back." He holsters his shield and starts to move across the battlefield, eyes fixed on AI Tony.

AI Tony notices him coming and holds up a hand in warning to Jan, who at first looks defensive, like maybe Steve's going to fight.

"I just want a quick word with him in private," Steve says. "I promise not to punch him again, even if he deserves it."

Jan nods tersely and withdraws a little distance, her eyes lingering warily on them.

"Hello, Steve," AI Tony says. His voice sounds a little strained and his eyes scan Steve's face in a familiar manner.

Steve smiles, leans in, and whispers something very quietly into AI Tony's ear.

When Steve pulls away, AI Tony looks stunned. His eyes are wide and he's trembling a little.

"Thanks," Steve calls to Jan, and turns his back on AI Tony, crossing back to Tony and smiling, because he can't help himself.

"What was that all about?" Tony asks, and he's not the only one intrigued. The other Avengers seem to have noticed something just happened and are watching cagily, bad at disguising their interest.

Steve doesn't say anything, he just takes one of Tony's hands in his, and then looks back across at AI Tony with a smirk.

"Oh," Tony says, in a small impressed voice, and joins in on the smirking.

"Why are we smirking smugly?" Rhodey asks, drawing up alongside them and joining in.

"I'm banging Steve and my double is jealous," Tony says before Steve can stop him.

Steve shrugs unrepentantly. When he glances at Rhodey, Rhodey's mouth is twisted up sourly.

"Is it too late to trade you for the other one?" Rhodey demands, and yelps as Tony gives him a five-second head-start before he starts to chase him over the battlefield.

* * *

After the work is done, Steve stands alone with Tony at the edge of the now-clear battlefield. Tony's eyes gaze out at the horizon like maybe he can see something there that Steve can't, but when Steve nudges in closer, Tony beams at him and takes his hand. Even though Tony's in the armor, and Steve's wearing his gloves, Steve fancies he can feel the warmth of Tony's skin against his anyway.

"So what are you going to do now?" Steve asks. "Your company's stolen. Your name isn't yours anymore. What are you going to do about it?"

Tony makes a surprised noise and then quirks an eyebrow at Steve. "What I'm good at. I'm an engineer. When something falls apart—I build it up again. Stronger. Better."

"Like you and me," Steve says.

Tony's eyes glitter approvingly. "Exactly."

* * *

* * *

Tony insists on covering Steve's eyes with his hands for the last few meters, even though Steve's fairly sure what Tony's going to show him.

Steve's spent hours over the last few weeks watching Tony's hands move deftly across his screens, designing his new facilities. He knows what the building's going to look like. He's already walked through it digitally, via some AR tech that Tony's been experimenting with. Still, Tony's proud of it, so Steve's proud of him, and he's happy to see whatever Tony wants to show off to him. Nearly all of Tony's workers abandoned the Long Island facility, eager to come and work for the real Tony, and Steve's so proud of him he feels like he could burst with it. They'll start moving over to the facility tomorrow. Steve can't wait to see Tony's face as his company comes back to life.

"Here," Tony says, his words breathy and tantalizingly warm against the skin of Steve's neck. "You can look now."

Steve dutifully opens his eyes as Tony pulls his hands away and despite his mental track of worry that he wouldn't be surprised, he does gasp out loud a little anyway.

It's beautiful. The buildings are gleaming in the sun. There's a courtyard in the center of them that's a riot of color, flowers of different kinds circling a fountain. Large gates stand closed for now, but Steve can tell from the pathways winding to all the different buildings that Tony's built something iconic, something that can stand for something. Something that can grow with him.

Steve's gaze travels fondly across the buildings, already knowing which one is for green energy, which one is for material development, which one is the admin block—and then his eyes catch and hold on the metal sign on the main building. It's not the name he's expecting to see.

 _Strong Industries_.

Steve mouths the name, looking at Tony uncertainly.

Tony answers his unspoken question. "I like it. Besides… It's a long story, but the Stark name was never really supposed to be mine anyway. AI me wants it so badly, he can have it."

Steve reaches out and takes Tony's hand. Tony looks at him sharply in surprise, but entwines his fingers with Steve's, and matches Steve's gaze, out across the new factory.

Steve smiles slowly. "I have time for a long story or two," he says. "Why don't you tell me all about it?"


End file.
